[wplug] The End of the Telcos?

[terry mcintyre]

--- Michael Semcheski <mhsemcheski at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 11:17 AM, Drew from
> Zhrodague <drew at zhrodague.net>
> wrote:
> 
> >
> >        I think that if the City took over just
> their own
> > telecommunications, that it would save hundreds of
> thousands of taxpayer
> > dollars every year.
> >
> 
> The other school of thought is that the city should
> stick to doing things
> that are core to its purpose -- run the police
> force, run the fire
> companies, collect taxes, enforce code.  I don't
> know how closely you follow
> the local news, but if you give them the opportunity
> to do more and expand
> their power, it inevitably expands their waste,
> inefficiency, and patronage.
> 
> I guess its basically big government vs. small
> government.  But my point is
> that I want them to focus on doing the things they
> need to do really well
> before they start looking for new things to run.
> 
> 
> --or--
> 
> It would usher in a new level of efficiency and
> skilled public servants.

Amen! Government is essentially the organized use of
force, as an old quote attributed to George Washington
puts it. Let the government stick to the core
competency, that of the "night watchman", and we could
do the rest far more efficiently via voluntary
cooperation.

Government-run enterprises tend to drive out
competition and, in the long run, drive up prices and
reduce quality. Look at the long upward rise of the
cost of K-12 education, and the reduction in quality
for a prime example. Whenever possible, many millions
of people opt for alternatives - private schools and
homeschooling - especially in poorer areas which lack
the tax base to fund the "top tier" government
schools. 
I often pass by a Catholic school in South Central Los
Angeles; the students are from families which work
hard to send their children there; the motivation to
do so must be powerful indeed, when "free" government
schools exist. In Pittsburgh, there is a Catholic
school a few blocks from MLK Middle School; it also
has a large minority population; the same observation
applies - I used to live on W. North Avenue, a few
blocks away, and my neighbors scrimped to send their
children to that school.

Government-run wifi and internet access will tend to
drive out private-sector offerings. We should resist
the temptation to mulct taxpayers for "free" internet
access.

As for the telcos, the land line is fast disappearing.
The telcos are likely to devote their resources to the
provision of broadband access. I hope that the many
local governments end the practice of awarding
monopoly contracts, and let the telcos and cable
companies and anyone else to compete.

Where I live, only one cable company is legally
permitted to offer me services over the cable; only
one phone company is permitted by law to offer me
services over the land-line. If these monopoly
contracts were abolished, several companies would
compete to provide service to me and my neighbors. We
already see this with phone service. I have been using
Vonage over cable broadband; recently, my cable
company dropped their phone service rates to compete
with Vonage. Sadly, Verizon does not offer FIOS in my
neighborhood; if they did compete in this area, I'm
sure my cable broadband would improve in speed and
drop in price as well.

It's possible that I'll switch to Skype or some other
phone service which is even less expensive than
Vonage. Who knows? Having started with 300 baud modems
waaaay back when, I'm delighted with the improvements
in internet connectivity since. :D







Terry McIntyre &lt;terrymcintyre at yahoo.com&gt;

“Wherever is found what is called a paternal government, there is found state education. It has been discovered that the best way to insure implicit obedience is to commence tyranny in the nursery.”

Benjamin Disraeli, Speech in the House of Commons [June 15, 1874]


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