At 7:37 PM -0400 8/5/07, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
It's a constant battle, though, and I really don't understand the point of view that says govt regs aren't required. Most of what Craig favors would DEPEND on govt regulations. Or equivalently, the regulations imposed by some other regulated entity (his "spectrum utility," for example), that for some unstated reason, we must assume is not corrupt.
Obviously the government must oversee the resources that belong to US, whether they be forests, other natural resources, roads, or the spectrum. The issue is how these resources are managed.
The government (at the behest of business moguls who wanted to escape the problems with competition) chose to create natural monopolies and to regulate them, sharing the enhanced profits that come from this cozy relationship between business and government.
It is quite feasible to create businesses that can mange these resources, with a percentage of the profits going back to the government. These business can maximize their profits by putting the resources they manage to the most profitable uses. The problem comes when they are allowed to have total control of a "market," tightly coupling the allocated resource with a closed system where they control virtually every aspect of the customer relationship.
No system is perfect - the one we have is far less than perfect. Regards Craig ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org
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