Tales of the Sausage Factory: “Return of the Telco Legislation” Now Playing in Indiana
From http://www.wetmachine.com/index.php/item/198:
…telcos and cable cos have aggressively fought to kill munie systems by getting state legislatures comfortably removed from the municipalities in question to pass laws prohibiting such systems (and usually including huge subsidies to get the telcos and cable cos to provide worse service as an added bonus).When asked to justify this, the telcos and their supporters argue that it is axiomatically bad, unfair and not nice for municipal governments to compete with the private sector. They usually assert that munies can tax and regulate in a discriminatory fashion (not true, due process prevents such discrimination) or that munies enjoy special privileges (although incumbents are not shy about special privileges and subsidies for themselves). Mostly, they argue that it is just wrong for the public sector to provide things that the private sector can provide (other than education, water, electric power, and the occasional donation of land or tax breaks to bring in a private business). …
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