The government might not be able to build Estonia-level broadband infrastructure to the whole country overnight, but put it in the hands of capitalists and you get Comcast, and I think I speak for all of us when I say fuck Comcast. Put it in the hands of government, even a local city government, and you get Chattanooga municipal gigabit on a publicly owned fiber network that's faster and cheaper than pretty much anything you can get anywhere else in the country. Imagine what the USPS could be if we'd given it an ISP division in 2006 instead of doing the IRL Postal Act of 2006.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

well spoken.

A friend who used to work at DOE said there were 3 phases of power plant production. First, a government entity takes over the construction, and builds a system that will meet demand for 30 years, at the expense of the tax payers. Then, the infrastructure is sold to private corporations, who promise cheaper rates. The corporations ride the robust design for the full remainder of the 30 years, doing as little maintenance as possible. They then take the earnings and leave the debilitated system, which is picked up by a government entity, who begins doing the work necessary to build a system that will meet demand for 30 years, at the expense of tax payers....

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Notice that your example is local government and not federal. Once the Feds get involved, regulatory capture takes over.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Fair with regards to Chattanooga, and regulatory capture is certainly a problem to account for. But I also mentioned the United States Postal Service, whose existence demonstrates that it doesn't have to be that way.

E: Also, I shouldn't neglect to mention that the entities that would carry out regulatory capture on the US government also tried and continue to try it with Chattanooga, and have been unsuccessful, which also demonstrates that it doesn't have to be that way.