[Info-vax] OT: Private versus government owned?

[AEF]

On Dec 9, 10:17 am, Paul Sture <p... at sture.ch> wrote:
> On Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:50:25 +0000, ChrisQ wrote:
> > I think there's a good argument for *all* essential services to be in
> > public hands, to ensure that consumers get a fair deal. It stops the
> > sort of rip off we have in the uk, where water, sewerage, gas and
> > electricity users are at the mercy of large multinationals,whose only
> > responsibility is to their shareholders and can never be trusted to do
> > the right thing.
>
> Not entirely. I recall it taking a minimum of 6 months to get a phone
> into a house that already had a line into it.

I recall waiting 11 days for Verizon "High Speed" DSL to fix my
Internet service. Eleven days without the Internet! Can you imagine
the horror? (`_^)

I now have Comcast cable Internet. Not cheap, but no outages so far,
and a lot faster.

>
> > Some may call that "socialism", but how else do you prevent monopoly
> > exploitation ?...
>
> How about _effective_ anti-monopoly laws?

Without them, Comcast would rule cable.

Definition of SOCIALISM
1
: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective
or governmental ownership and administration of the means of
production and distribution of goods
2
a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private
property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of
production are owned and controlled by the state
3
: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism
and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and
pay according to work done

The key thing here seems to be gov't _ownership_ of business and the
like, or there being no private property.

I don't think anti-trust law is socialism. Law applies to people, but
it doesn't mean the gov't owns people. The same goes for regulation of
business. (And for those who claim regulation is "socialist" and that
the U.S. Constitution outlaws socialism, the Constitution *explicitly*
grants Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce.)

>
> --
> Fog differs from other clouds only in that fog touches the surface of
> the Earth.

Meteorites differ from meteors in that only meteorites can be found on
the ground.

>
> Paul Sture

AEF