Personally, I think we should just pay them off and start fresh. Unfortunately, that ends up basically looking like nationalization, which in the US is extremel

Personally, I think we should just pay them off and start fresh. Unfortunately, that ends up basically looking like nationalization, which in the US is extremely difficult politically. Actually if the Government broke up the monopolies that have a stranglehold on connection points and wires to the homes -- competition would sort everything out without a bunch of needless Government bureaucracy creating huge unintended consequences.