[opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld
- From: Craig Birkmaier <brewmastercraig@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2016 10:29:41 -0400
On Sep 14, 2016, at 12:19 AM, Manfredi, Albert E <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
That does not change the fact that anti-trust laws CAN be used to
regulate the behavior of companies and industries that compete in
free markets.
Just like a pinch of salt can be used to enhance the flavor of what you are
eating. Both are irrelevant to this discussion.
No Bert. This is a discussion about free markets versus government/industry
collusion to sustain monopolies and oligopolies.
But free markets can deal with these issues, as they have with the
shared costs of the U.S. power grid.
That's called, strict government oversight (regulation).
No. It's called DEREGULATION. under strict government oversight, the company
that owned the wires in your neighborhood controlled both the local
infrastructure and the sale of electricity. It did not matter where that power
was generated - your electric provider could purchase power at wholesale rates
from the grid. This was commonplace, with multiple utilities often contracting
for power from large facilities, especially nuclear plants.
The ability for power generation companies to sell electricity to almost any
customer, anywhere, was enable by legislation, which deregulated the sale of
power, opening this up to real competition. The results have been a patchwork
of success, as every state has its own rules about who can buy power wholesale.
Most states only allow large industrial users to buy wholesale, but there is
progress in the area of residential customers being able to "tap into the
grid." And the ability for consumers to install solar and "sell" excess power
into the grid is helping to change the market for electricity.
Once again: Please explain how multiple sewer systems can coexist in every
neighborhood, giving each household a reasonable amount of choice. If you
cannot do this, then there is no sense in continuing to argue.
You are focusing on something that is far different than the industries we have
been discussing - broadband, cable, and telco. Yet in theory, the sewer system
in every city is not much different than the power grid.
Many large cities have multiple sewage treatment facilities - there is no
reason that these facilities must be owned by the local government you "could"
have multiple companies processing the sewage and competing.
This is not going to happen because cities make money selling water, sewer
service, and increasingly, electricity and broadband. And they "collude" with
county and state governments to force people to hook up to these systems in the
name of environmental protection. There is a huge movement in our area to
eliminate septic tanks, or to require more sophisticated processing, because of
the potential for nitrites to leach into ground water, the aquifer, and the
springs fed by the aquifer.
And dare I even mention what is happening to the coal industry in the name of
"climate change?" We are well beyond the era of natural monopolies. Now
governments are picking and choosing winners and losers, sometimes based on
questionable "scientific consensus," which is itself an oxymoron.
We have many communities, and even individual buildings that operate
their own sewer plants.
That CANNOT work in higher density environments, so it's irrelevant. As
irrelevant as saying that people can install their own AC power generators,
to avoid using the power grid, or as irrelevant as saying that you can
install your own water tanks, to avoid tying into the water main.
Wrong. Many condos in South Florida were built with their own sewer systems.
Rest areas on rural interstates usually have their own sewer systems. The
controlling factor here is Federal regulatory standards that must be met.
We have a HUGE retirement community south of Ocala called the Villages, with
119,000 residents (i.e. high density). It is the nation's fastest growing metro
area. The corporation that has built this community owns most of the utilities
- they have not gone into power generation. But they own the water and sewer
system, the cable system, the newspaper, and a radio station.
Obviously they chose this path to control local commerce...
There are options.
In spite of copious prose, Craig, you have never been able to respond
intelligently to this simple question. When competition for the service
cannot be adequate, how can free market forces work? They cannot.
Sorry, but they can. We started down this path because of collusion between
large industrialists and the politicians. Both realized the potential to make
more money with "natural monopolies" regulated by the government, than they
could make with free market competition.
Technology is moving very rapidly in a number of areas that may make most of
this mute.
What happens, perhaps a few decades down the road when it will be possible to
build a house with a solar roof and storage battery system, and a water/sewer
processing system? What happens if wireless broadband eliminates the need for
the expensive wired infrastructure using public right-of-ways?
Will governments encourage or regulate these industries so they cannot compete
with government owned and regulated utilities?
Regards
Craig
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Other related posts:
- » [opendtv] 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld - Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: 4 reasons broadband data caps must die | InfoWorld- Manfredi, Albert E