3 ms·

Collective ownership works so well, especially for natural monopolies.

Spivak 3y ago
Lines like this really ought to be public infrastructure like roads and power lines. At least where I live tax payers paid for them anyway.
- ProllyInfamous 3y ago
  I lived in Austin (grew up there) until 2016. When Google Fiber began its rollouts, I remember the cable providers simply NOT ALLOWING GOOGLE ACCESS TO THEIR UTILITY POLES (they owned <10%, but in vital places this essentially crippled gFiber rollout for the first few years of litigation). I got google fiber (Austin) in 2015, and when I chose to leave The Violet Crown, fiber internet was an absolute requirement... which is how I found myself in Chattanooga, Tennessee (thank god)!
- bonestamp2 3y ago
  I would throw insurance into this mix too. At the end of the day, the government is on the hook for rolling out money when there are major disasters, so why not just start there instead of backstop there? How about we pool all our money in one big place (the government) instead of spreading it around in a bunch of smaller pools with different rules (private insurance). In 1945, the government of Saskatchewan (Canada) recognized this and has been handling province wide insurance since then (Health, Home, Auto, etc). This has meant drastically lower insurance rates, because they aim to operate with no profit, and you don't have insurance companies suing each other for damages because everyone has the same insurance company. It creates lots of jobs, and better service for the residents. States like Florida, California, North Carolina, and others have had to start their own insurance companies to handle residents who cannot get fire/flood/hurricane/etc insurance from a private insurance company because the private insurance companies have decided the risk is too high. It seems silly to maintain this broken patchwork system when there are several examples of governments creating entities to handle these ubiquitous needs in a better way.
  - ProllyInfamous 3y ago
    What a revelatory comparison, hidden entirely [from my Republican-led-state upbringing] in plain sight. Thank you [and please, go on...]:
    - bonestamp2 3y ago
      I just found out that British Columbia also made their Auto insurance public. Basically, it's part of the DMV there... which makes a lot of sense since they obviously issue the driver and vehicle licenses. A lot of the same information is needed for all of these services, which makes each of these more efficient (and cheaper). It also allows them to ensure that all registered vehicles actually have insurance with good coverage for everyone involved.
galangalalgol 3y ago
Another poster said that infra in general is good in TN. My municipality has significantly higher than average tax burdens, but the road, water, waste management and schools are all ignored and in terrible condition. Collective ownership requires the collective to hold its leadership accountable for misbehavior.

Lines like this really ought to be public infrastructure like roads and power lines. At least where I live tax payers paid for them anyway.

ProllyInfamous 3y ago
I lived in Austin (grew up there) until 2016. When Google Fiber began its rollouts, I remember the cable providers simply NOT ALLOWING GOOGLE ACCESS TO THEIR UTILITY POLES (they owned <10%, but in vital places this essentially crippled gFiber rollout for the first few years of litigation). I got google fiber (Austin) in 2015, and when I chose to leave The Violet Crown, fiber internet was an absolute requirement... which is how I found myself in Chattanooga, Tennessee (thank god)!
bonestamp2 3y ago
I would throw insurance into this mix too. At the end of the day, the government is on the hook for rolling out money when there are major disasters, so why not just start there instead of backstop there? How about we pool all our money in one big place (the government) instead of spreading it around in a bunch of smaller pools with different rules (private insurance). In 1945, the government of Saskatchewan (Canada) recognized this and has been handling province wide insurance since then (Health, Home, Auto, etc). This has meant drastically lower insurance rates, because they aim to operate with no profit, and you don't have insurance companies suing each other for damages because everyone has the same insurance company. It creates lots of jobs, and better service for the residents. States like Florida, California, North Carolina, and others have had to start their own insurance companies to handle residents who cannot get fire/flood/hurricane/etc insurance from a private insurance company because the private insurance companies have decided the risk is too high. It seems silly to maintain this broken patchwork system when there are several examples of governments creating entities to handle these ubiquitous needs in a better way.
- ProllyInfamous 3y ago
  What a revelatory comparison, hidden entirely [from my Republican-led-state upbringing] in plain sight. Thank you [and please, go on...]:
  - bonestamp2 3y ago
    I just found out that British Columbia also made their Auto insurance public. Basically, it's part of the DMV there... which makes a lot of sense since they obviously issue the driver and vehicle licenses. A lot of the same information is needed for all of these services, which makes each of these more efficient (and cheaper). It also allows them to ensure that all registered vehicles actually have insurance with good coverage for everyone involved.

galangalalgol 3y ago

Another poster said that infra in general is good in TN. My municipality has significantly higher than average tax burdens, but the road, water, waste management and schools are all ignored and in terrible condition. Collective ownership requires the collective to hold its leadership accountable for misbehavior.