7 ms·
> Because city governments are really great at investing appropriately in infrastructure! > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis https://en.wikiped
by theothermkn 10y ago
> Because city governments are really great at investing appropriately in infrastructure!
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis
This sketch of a sketch of an argument that you have laid out it a total non sequitur. It seems to me that you're pointing to the Flint water crisis as proof either that all municipal infrastructure efforts are disastrous, or that enough of them are that the public utility alternative is essentially dead. If that is the "argument," then the easiest way to defeat this is just to say, "Flint was news because it represented a rare and egregious failure."
That's it. That's all we need to say to rebut that in its entirety.
If we stop there, however, we miss the opportunity to point out the converse: It's not news when customers get gouged for sub-par service, because corrupt and monopolistic practices are rampant within capitalist institutions, especially around lock-in. Cable companies. Phone companies. Privatized utilities. Airlines after deregulation. Military suppliers. It's just not news.
We'd also miss the opportunity to point out that the tactic of pointing to one criminal failure of a civic organization as proof positive that private industry is universally better is a favorite tactic of a certain obnoxious kind of 20-something free-market fanboy set.
HN is better off when that set either stays home or ups its game.
- harryh 10y agoFlint is an extreme example, but underinvestment in infrastructure is not rare. It's endemic. Governments across the country are underinvesting in infrastructure at all levels. It's not just me who's saying this. It's been a major talking point of the democratic party for years. And that's for infrastructure like roads and water delivery where technology is largely static. The problem would likely only be worse for more dynamic infrastructure like broadband.
- dredmorbius 10y agoIn large part because the wealthy, and corporations, have entirely shirked their taxpaying obligations. That is: paying for the services which enabled them to become wealthy in the first place.
- rayiner 10y agoOur public infrastructure spending is trillions of dollars behind: https://next.ft.com/content/6aa759f8-16c0-11e6-b197-a4af20d5575e https://next.ft.com/content/6aa759f8-16c0-11e6-b197-a4af20d5.... Flint is an extreme example, but almost all municipal water systems are a disaster. In Atlanta, the sewer system dumps raw sewage in the Chattahoochee when it rains. In Chicago, old lead pipes are poisoning kids. It happens because rates are set by elected boards, not by markets, and because municipalities are not forced to bear the external costs of poor infrastructure.
- snowwrestler 10y agoU.S. broadband speed and cost lag other industrialized nations too. The only general lesson here is that the U.S. is big and infrastructure is expensive.
- rayiner 10y agoDoes speed lag? Akamai says otherwise.
- TeMPOraL 10y agoDoesn't it? I thought it's common knowledge the US has the worst Internet infrastructure out of all first world countries. The prices I see mentioned here for residential connections seem to confirm that. It also seems that download caps for residential connections are a thing there, which is a practice I personally consider barbaric.
- rayiner 10y agoAkamai's State of the Internet always shows average connection speeds in the US being faster than the UK, France, Spain, and Germany. The dense northeastern states are as fast as the Netherlands, Switzerland, etc. 5 US states have more than half of connections above 15 Mbps, while only one European country does ( Norway ). It is more expensive, though. DSL is still the primary broadband technology in the UK, Germany, France, and Spain, while cable is in the US: http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/fast-fiber-optic-broadband-spreads-across-developed-world/ http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/fast-fiber-optic-broadband-sprea...