Right now the big communication providers already get money out of your pocket when you use the internet (by way of your monthly ISP bill). They also get money out of Google’s pocket when they pay for their bandwidth utilization. But, apparently that’s not quite enough for them. Christopher’s got some good coverage of how SBC is trying to weasel some more money for their coiffeurs.
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Our monthly first Saturday gig. Awesome Schezwan food!
When: Feb 7, 2009 9:00:00 PM
Where: M Shanghai Den in Brooklyn,New York
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The closet Capitalist in me disagrees. AS LONG AS THERE’S REAL COMPETITION for what they provide, they can charge twice, three times, whatever. They made the investment. If they overcharge, they lose business to cable companies, power lines, wireless, etc.
If you buy shares of a stock in the hope of making a return of 20% per year (high hopes, indeed), and some unforeseen event occurs making it possible for your return to be 40% instead, you don’t have to return your dividend checks to the company. You just hope this good fortune offsets some other investment that didn’t go as well as planned. The phone companies made speculative investments in the “pipes,” and for a couple of years it was clear that they had overinvested, had overcapacity, and had to eat the cost of those investments. They almost certainly did not expect Google to become a competitor, but fortuitously they did, and AS LONG AS THERE’S COMPETITION for the service they provide, they can charge everybody in sight as far as I’m concerned. If Google doesn’t like their price - or their competion’s - they can install their own pipes…or threaten to do so! And anyone jealous of SBC’s returns, can simply invest in SBC.
“they can install their own pipes…or threaten to do so! And anyone jealous of SBC’s returns, can simply invest in SBC. ”
yes kent
now that is how the leaders of this country should think!!! or maybe they already do.
Capitolism is good and I am not advocating against it. Historically the phone/network system has always been treated special - much like the airline industry. Sometimes they are a “utility” sometimes they are “private corporation”. It all depends on the situation (and side) you want to argue at the time (See e911).
The problem has always been that large service providers don’t want competition AND don’t want government oversite. You can’t (not) have both.
I do believe that the “market” will reject the notion of private “selective service” networks - that’s pre-Internet thinking (think Compuserv, Prodigy, old AOL, etc).
Don’t get carried away, Chris. I’m talking about free market capitalism, not cronyism, tax cuts for the rich, petty small-mindedness, lies and corruption. You’ll know we have leaders when we’re actually moving forward, and in a direction that the citizenship supports.
BTW, where’s my dolphin?
kent
cross your fingers,
if the weather gods permit i will be fishing friday night returning late saturday.
cross your fingers…think fishy.
chris
I want one.