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Comcast exists to prove that government isn't always less efficient at providing service than the private sector.
by reagency 11y ago
Comcast exists to prove that government isn't always less efficient at providing service than the private sector.
- baddox 11y agoThe rule of thumb is that government tends to be less efficient than private markets. The residential ISP "market" isn't much of a market in lots of places. Comcast tends to operate as a monopoly or near-monopoly.
- adventured 11y agoI'd have to wonder at the product we'd get if we swapped out Comcast and let the Federal Government take over their business. I think it would cost net twice as much (total expenditures out of the consumer pocket via taxation, the plans wouldn't cost more), be about as reliable, about as fast, lose lots of money and still be completely unaccountable to its customers. The system / infrastructure upgrades would be slow, bureaucratic, always vastly over-budget, and a constant funding fight in Congress. (I say this understanding fully that few advocate for a federal system, but rather local muni connectivity)
- aggie 11y agoComcast doesn't face typical market competition; it is uncommon for it's customers to have good alternatives. That's not a good representation of the efficiency and quality the private sector produces.
- nmrm2 11y ago> That's not a good representation of the efficiency and quality the private sector produces. It's a good representation of the danger in the common quasi-religious belief that hasty privatization necessarily entails a marketplace with healthy competition.
- sdenton4 11y agoSurely no true scotsman....
- aggie 11y agoI think it's fair to say that taking any single company and holding it as evidence of what the private sector produces is flawed, but Comcast is a particularly flawed example. Likewise with any single government entity.