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Judge Tosses Telco Suit Over City-Owned Network
tsa sends along news of the city of Monticello, Minnesota, which was sued by their local telco, Bridgewater Telephone Company, because the city chose to build a fiber optics network of their own. The judge dismissed their complaint of competition by a governmental organization. Quoting: "The judge's ruling is noteworthy for two things: (1) the judge's complete dismissal of Bridgewater Telephone Company's complaint and (2) his obvious anger at the underfunding of Minnesota's state courts. Indeed, the longest footnote in the opinion is an extended jeremiad about how much work judges are under and why it took so long to decide this case."
Make sense, stick to principles, and you're labeled a troll. Resort to what's convenient, throw principles out the window, espouse pragmatism, and you're +5 Insightful.
Dude, America has one hell of a lot of rural areas where demand does not meet financial justification.
Alright, then the only justifiable thing to do, if you want such services, is to persuade your friends, family, neighbors, etc, to want it as well. Show them why it's better, why they should want it, why if they all unite, their desires will be fulfilled.
Or, you can dump millions of tax dollars into a project that few actually want, and watch it limp along supported only by increased tax dollars. Then, in order to make it profitable, the government will be forced to prohibit competition. No longer will people have the choice of a slower connection at a cheaper rate. Everyone, to get any connection, will have to have the fastest connection, the most expensive connection.
The telecos took the cash and ran.
Can you provide some sources for this?
Why is it OK for the telecos to take cash dedicated to a specific cause and screw the taxpayers
The taxpayers were screwed as soon as they handed their money over to another government, to do with as it pleases.
where the government is completely justified in offering services to force competition where none exists today and none is likely in the foreseeable future.
All you've succeeded at doing is removing all meaning from the word "justify", and in the process you've ditched individual rights in favor of what's convenient to yourself.