I'm skeptical that India is REALLY producing engineers worthy of replacing Americans, or any other Western country.
The same can be said about the U.S.
Rednecks in the deep south still marry their sisters. Racism is still a big problem in society. Misogynistic execs in billion dollar companies like Uber.
It's not about the country, it's about the individuals. I've seen Indian engineers who are absolute rubbish, not worth the paper their H1-B is printed on. But I've also seen brilliant ones, smart and respectful. Keep in mind that in most countries, only 30% of people have the intellectual capacity to earn a college degree.
The moderators are persecuting me for being a Christian.
Keep your Grand Skywizard to yourself until the time that you can provide a peer-reviewed paper which proves the existence of a deity. Trust me, you will have more fame than Einstein.
Mod up a hundred times. We have too many politicians who are unwilling to compromise to make progress. The only form of government where somebody gets everything they want is a dictatorship.
Agreed, my kingdom for modpoints. I'd mod parent and grandparent up.
Most European democracies have a multi-party system, not a bi-party system. My former home country, The Netherlands, just had an election where the outcome means that at least 4 parties have to work together (read: compromise) in order to form a government. This means that each party leader will give some, but will also get some. In the end, everyone will be able to claim victory as they will be able to negotiate at least something that's really important to them.
Many things in the EUSSR are broken, but this is one item that the U.S. voter should consider to adopt. The biggest problem in November was that there was no decent candidate with any chance of winning the presidency. The "independents" (non-GOP/DEM) had no chance, and both mainstream candidates were.... let's be honest... rubbish.
Sure, two guys who started with this project fresh out of college to do good for the community, and somehow missed your e-mail because they were too busy trying to find jobs and/or keeping their platform up.
I know both of them personally, and will vouch for them. They are two cool dudes with the highest integrity. Much higher than an AC ranting like this.
Also, start jailing their execs if they do nothing about it.
How about you keep your Nazi hands out of American companies? It's the internet bro, and the Germans don't control American internet sites.
If I want to post that Angela Merkel is, in my opinion, a politician who destroys Europe, and that I would not be sad if someone would assasinate her, then that is my opinion which I am entitled to have and speak out, in the jurisdiction that I am currently living in and posting from. German law has NOTHING to do with that. So why should Mark Zuckerberg be jailed?
A bit late to reply, but just for argument's sake.
Either way there's nothing in the EU rules to prevent you working for as long as you want. Just that you can't be forced to. You thinking that is a bad thing just makes me think that you've been at work too long today and should get your head checked.
I have not expressed myself clearly enough, apologies for that. Laws which prevent an employer for forcing unreasonable overtimes are good and necessary. But they also exist in the U.S. on a federal and state level (I'm in CA).
Yep you're definitely in the 0.01%. Most people say the opposite.
You are right, I am very fortunate to be in the position that I'm in. My work is interesting, my workload is acceptable and my family is happy too. I live in Socal, giving me pretty much the best weather in all of the US.
And the fact that you call it the EUSSR just shows you either have no idea how the EU works, or how the USSR worked. Or both. Comrade.
You are mistaken here. I am very familiar with the EU and it's rule making process. While I was raised in The Netherlands, and consider that my home country, I was born in former Yugoslavia. My yearly 2 month trips to see family thought me a lot on how a communistic regime works, and how bad it is for society to have too much socialism.
That said, there are two things that I would love to see taken care of on a federal level: healthcare and education. But I'm also realistic enough to know that that's not going to happen in the near future.
20M on SSDI, 60M on food stamps, 20M felons who don't participate in anything, matches the scope of any problem in any EU country
And you know what's the big difference? SSDI and food stamps are enough to sustain you, but you would have a better life if you were working. In most of the EUSSR, or at least my home country, you are better of not working and taking tax-payer money.
you dense mother fucker
Yeah, that's the compelling argument that made me rethink my position. Just as the idiots downmodding my well-argumented position that they simply disagree with.
Are you suggesting that an 80 hour week is optional because you are free to get another job?
No, I'm saying that an 80 hour work week is optional because it is your own choice to work 80 hours.
How is that any different from those who suggest that sexual harassment at work shouldn't be illegal because the woman is free to get another job to escape it?
First of all, you're an idiot and I totally understand that by giving arguments against your point, you will drag me to your level and beat me with experience. That said,
Sexual harassment is prohibited by law, not to mention morally deplorable. An 80 hour work week is not. Many people who work 80 hours a week do what they love. Ask any ER doctor, nurse, or Google/Facebook/Amazon/Apple network engineer.
I love what I do, and I don't give a crap how many hours I put in. Sometimes it's 40 a week, sometimes 60 sometimes 30. And in rare cases, 80.
I'm an expat American who's lived and worked in the "EUSSR" for 10+ years.
That's funny, I'm the opposite. I worked in the EUSSR for 15 years, and moved to the U.S. in 2010. My perspective is very different than yours, and here is why:
First of all, taxes. All that free time and subsidized healthcare must be paid one way or the other. My income tax in my home-country was 52%, sales tax (VAT) is 21%. So out of the gate, the government took 73% of every euro I made. Wanna buy a car? Sure. MSRP is 10,000. Add 21% tax to get to 12,100. Now add 9,181 special car-tax and you get to pay 21,281 for your 10,000 car. Calculate it yourself: http://www.autoweek.nl/bpmcalc...
Second, like in the U.S., once you are regular full-time, most positions won't pay overtime anyway.
Third, and this is the most important, in my home country, it is extremely difficult to get a regular full-time position, because it is extremely difficult for employers to fire you. If you have a full-time position that's not temporarily, they will have to go to court to get you fired. So they will avoid doing that as long as they can by giving you a temporary contract. First 6 months, then a year. Then perhaps another year. Maybe after that you'll get a full time position if you're special enough. If you work in a call center and are easily replaceable, they'll hire someone else so they can restart the clock. California is an at-will state and I've never had a temp contract, ever. This is what happens when the government starts interfering with private contracts. My brother and sister are well in their thirties and only recently got a regular full time position. Did I mention that you won't get a mortgage on a temporary contract?
And I did not even mention all the abuse I've seen of the welfare state. People who are perfectly capable of working, but choose not to because the government will provide for them, on my dime. Remember, the government uses my taxpayer money, extracted from my paycheck under the threat of a gun to my head, to pay other people not to work. Fuck that shit, and fuck the EU, for that reason alone already.
And I did not even start about civil liberties. Civil liberties in Europe, right. No freedom of speech, every ISP must retain all logs of you for 6 months, even a park ranger can check your internet history. That's why: EUSSR.
Great when you work for a large corporation. Not so great if you're a fresh out of school kid looking for some stable income and ending up not working for multi-national who "cares" about employees
Not true, for example CA has Short Term Disability.
If you want to work that will be your problem. Humans love being self destructive. Nothing says self-destruction more than volunteered unpaid overtime at the expense of your family.
Talk for yourself. I easily work 60+ hours a week. Wanna know why? Because I fucking love what I'm doing. My network is my baby. And I still get to spend more than enough time with my family.
You get 2 weeks, 3 if you're lucky. We'll continue to mock you from every other country. I've never seen a large employer offer you (even with some negotiation) what most other countries get as a mandatory minimum. But hey 80 hour weeks with no vacation, you sound like you're really living your life.
At my company, there is no hard limit, and you work with HR to get what you need. Other companies I worked for, I got 3, sometimes 4. After that I'd be covered by CA SDI. I also get more than enough vacation time to do everything I want to do.
Is this another one of those "employees have the power to negotiate these contracts" thing that Americans are the only country who hasn't realised it rarely works out well for the employees?
This is the crux of our discussion. You opt to have the state take care of you by enacting laws. I opt to live in a country where I can make my own choices. I lived in the EUSSR until 2010, so I know pretty well what I'm talking about. My move to the U.S. was my best choice ever. More money, way better quality of life, for the same work and amount of work.
You as an individual can opt of the 48 hour week. That is your choice. However you can't be forced to opt out (expect in those occupations where it would be dangerous to do so).
I see you have no clue how EU labor laws work. Hint: they don't. Most of the labor laws are enacted on a national level. So where your country might enact a max of 48 hours, another country can choose differently.
So what's with the "EUSSR" label?
The European Union is looking more and more like the old Soviet Union. No freedom of speech, and an EU parliament that tries to enact and enforce legislation on a "federal" level. Whatever choices their citizens make is irrelevant. And I can give you a ton of examples, and let's start with the Ukrainian treaty as well as the EU constitution which is no longer called a constitution.
1. Employment at will. This concept is totally alien in most of the developed world.
Most at-will states have other laws protecting workers against unjust lay-offs. Try firing someone working for a large corporation in California without building a dossier and have the worker go through a Performance Improvement Plan.
At will is not "you can be fired any day".
2. No paid sick time (OK California and a few other states have made progress).
Every large corporation that I've worked for has paid sick time for all their exempt employees (and let's be honest 95% of all H1-Bs are exempt).
3. No limits on the maximum duration of the workweek. The EU's working time directive is a good start.
Luckily we do not live in the EUSSR. If I want to work 80 hours a week, that's my problem. If I don't, I can work somewhere else (H1-Bs can do that too).
4. No paid vacation or family leave. The US is quite alone here as well.
Again, every large corporation that I've worked for has their own policies for that. It may not be mandatory by law, but it is definitely offered.
5. Non-compete contracts where there is no severance pay guaranteed if you are laid off.
Which are not enforceable in a growing number of states.
6. Binding arbitration which denies your right to trial without a jury.
No, you deny that yourself when you accept the contract. You don't have to. You entered the agreement to use binding arbitration.
Most "reasonable" countries do allow transiting without entry. The US is not one of them - landing on US soil counts as entry, even if everyone stays on the plane.
That's not necessarily because of being reasonable. It is because the physical layout of U.S. airports and the absence of exit control.
All countries I have been to (with the exception of the U.S.), have exit control as well, meaning that they check your passport prior to exiting the country. In the U.S., when you enter an international departure terminal, you can walk out just like that, most of the time. So if you would arrive on an international flight and would have another one scheduled out of the same terminal, you would still be able to walk out without any immigration control.
The solution to illegal immigration is to make source countries richer
Why would country A be responsible for country B's economy?
According to your statement, the solution to illegal immigration from Venezuela is to make Venezuela richer. While, interestingly enough, Venezuela is one of the richest countries in the world, in terms of natural resources. So why are all the people so poor?
Because they elected a bus driver as their president.
You read that right. Venezuela is a prime example of left socialist utopia failing. And whom do they blame for their failings?
Maduro blamed capitalism for speculation that is driving high rates of inflation and creating widespread shortages of staples
So go ahead, go make other countries richer. But please, don't do it with my tax money,
I think violence to prevent harm is generally accepted. It's when you find out two days later and kill him that it's a crime, rather than if you come home mid-act.
If I found out two days later, I'd still do the same, provided the police don't grab the guy before I do.
But all of that does not matter. My point is that there are cases where it is crystal clear who committed a very heinous crime, and some of those crimes deserve capital punishment. For punishment and prevention purposes.
But I will emphasize that I only support capital punishment in those cases: it has to be absolutely clear whodunnit. Not one of those cases where some poor black guy from da hood is being framed by a tiny shred of DNA evidence and gets his head chopped off, only to be exonerated 30 years after the fact. Those cases are disgusting.
I don't support the death penalty even for people I'd personally happily kill because the death penalty is inherently flawed
Right. If I come home to find a guy abusing my pre-teen daughter, you bet that I will Judge Dredd this mofo's ass.
The death penalty is not flawed. It's the current process to come to that. In cases where there is absolutely no doubt about guilt (think Boston Marathon), the death penalty is something I can only welcome.
But anytime a conviction is based on nothing more than "beyond reasonable doubt", I do agree with you that capital punishment should be excluded as an option.
I think that governments DO need to step in when there is:
A: Disagree. Let a competitor start up.
B: Which means that the government did mess with the market, so my original point still applies
C: In very limited situations: yes, I agree with you
D: Disagree. Companies set their own pricing. You don't like it, you go to a competitor.
E: See C indeed.
F: Go ahead, sue OPEC.
So the government is just here to enforce the monopoly of mobile operator?
You misread my point. The government should not be involved at all. If the government would keep their dirty hands out of the mobile communications market, there would be a lot more competition.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm skeptical that India is REALLY producing engineers worthy of replacing Americans, or any other Western country.
The same can be said about the U.S.
Rednecks in the deep south still marry their sisters. Racism is still a big problem in society. Misogynistic execs in billion dollar companies like Uber.
It's not about the country, it's about the individuals. I've seen Indian engineers who are absolute rubbish, not worth the paper their H1-B is printed on. But I've also seen brilliant ones, smart and respectful. Keep in mind that in most countries, only 30% of people have the intellectual capacity to earn a college degree.
The moderators are persecuting me for being a Christian.
Keep your Grand Skywizard to yourself until the time that you can provide a peer-reviewed paper which proves the existence of a deity. Trust me, you will have more fame than Einstein.
The workers must rule.
Right, that worked very well in Eastern Europe.
We need stronger privacy laws, nothing else. Keep your communism in the USSR please.
Mod up a hundred times. We have too many politicians who are unwilling to compromise to make progress. The only form of government where somebody gets everything they want is a dictatorship.
Agreed, my kingdom for modpoints. I'd mod parent and grandparent up.
Most European democracies have a multi-party system, not a bi-party system. My former home country, The Netherlands, just had an election where the outcome means that at least 4 parties have to work together (read: compromise) in order to form a government. This means that each party leader will give some, but will also get some. In the end, everyone will be able to claim victory as they will be able to negotiate at least something that's really important to them.
Many things in the EUSSR are broken, but this is one item that the U.S. voter should consider to adopt. The biggest problem in November was that there was no decent candidate with any chance of winning the presidency. The "independents" (non-GOP/DEM) had no chance, and both mainstream candidates were.... let's be honest... rubbish.
Screw these guys.
Sure, two guys who started with this project fresh out of college to do good for the community, and somehow missed your e-mail because they were too busy trying to find jobs and/or keeping their platform up.
I know both of them personally, and will vouch for them. They are two cool dudes with the highest integrity. Much higher than an AC ranting like this.
All organized religion is garbage. Your relationship with your version of a Grand Skywizard is personal.
Fixed that for you.
Also, start jailing their execs if they do nothing about it.
How about you keep your Nazi hands out of American companies? It's the internet bro, and the Germans don't control American internet sites.
If I want to post that Angela Merkel is, in my opinion, a politician who destroys Europe, and that I would not be sad if someone would assasinate her, then that is my opinion which I am entitled to have and speak out, in the jurisdiction that I am currently living in and posting from. German law has NOTHING to do with that. So why should Mark Zuckerberg be jailed?
F German Law, and F the EUSSR.
Either way there's nothing in the EU rules to prevent you working for as long as you want. Just that you can't be forced to. You thinking that is a bad thing just makes me think that you've been at work too long today and should get your head checked.
I have not expressed myself clearly enough, apologies for that. Laws which prevent an employer for forcing unreasonable overtimes are good and necessary. But they also exist in the U.S. on a federal and state level (I'm in CA).
Yep you're definitely in the 0.01%. Most people say the opposite.
You are right, I am very fortunate to be in the position that I'm in. My work is interesting, my workload is acceptable and my family is happy too. I live in Socal, giving me pretty much the best weather in all of the US.
And the fact that you call it the EUSSR just shows you either have no idea how the EU works, or how the USSR worked. Or both. Comrade.
You are mistaken here. I am very familiar with the EU and it's rule making process. While I was raised in The Netherlands, and consider that my home country, I was born in former Yugoslavia. My yearly 2 month trips to see family thought me a lot on how a communistic regime works, and how bad it is for society to have too much socialism.
That said, there are two things that I would love to see taken care of on a federal level: healthcare and education. But I'm also realistic enough to know that that's not going to happen in the near future.
But you are right, it makes it hard for the ad blocking software to catch them...
Well, what really annoys me is the amount of ##.col${RANDOM}.scw-horizontal.stackcommerce-widget entries I have in my adblock filters now.
20M on SSDI, 60M on food stamps, 20M felons who don't participate in anything, matches the scope of any problem in any EU country
And you know what's the big difference? SSDI and food stamps are enough to sustain you, but you would have a better life if you were working. In most of the EUSSR, or at least my home country, you are better of not working and taking tax-payer money.
you dense mother fucker
Yeah, that's the compelling argument that made me rethink my position. Just as the idiots downmodding my well-argumented position that they simply disagree with.
Are you suggesting that an 80 hour week is optional because you are free to get another job?
No, I'm saying that an 80 hour work week is optional because it is your own choice to work 80 hours.
How is that any different from those who suggest that sexual harassment at work shouldn't be illegal because the woman is free to get another job to escape it?
First of all, you're an idiot and I totally understand that by giving arguments against your point, you will drag me to your level and beat me with experience. That said,
Sexual harassment is prohibited by law, not to mention morally deplorable. An 80 hour work week is not. Many people who work 80 hours a week do what they love. Ask any ER doctor, nurse, or Google/Facebook/Amazon/Apple network engineer.
I love what I do, and I don't give a crap how many hours I put in. Sometimes it's 40 a week, sometimes 60 sometimes 30. And in rare cases, 80.
Local Police Departments Are Building Their Own DNA Databases...ok, good luck.
If you don't see the danger here, please see your local eye doctor.
I just signed up as an ACLU member.
I'm an expat American who's lived and worked in the "EUSSR" for 10+ years.
That's funny, I'm the opposite. I worked in the EUSSR for 15 years, and moved to the U.S. in 2010. My perspective is very different than yours, and here is why:
First of all, taxes. All that free time and subsidized healthcare must be paid one way or the other. My income tax in my home-country was 52%, sales tax (VAT) is 21%. So out of the gate, the government took 73% of every euro I made. Wanna buy a car? Sure. MSRP is 10,000. Add 21% tax to get to 12,100. Now add 9,181 special car-tax and you get to pay 21,281 for your 10,000 car. Calculate it yourself: http://www.autoweek.nl/bpmcalc...
Second, like in the U.S., once you are regular full-time, most positions won't pay overtime anyway.
Third, and this is the most important, in my home country, it is extremely difficult to get a regular full-time position, because it is extremely difficult for employers to fire you. If you have a full-time position that's not temporarily, they will have to go to court to get you fired. So they will avoid doing that as long as they can by giving you a temporary contract. First 6 months, then a year. Then perhaps another year. Maybe after that you'll get a full time position if you're special enough. If you work in a call center and are easily replaceable, they'll hire someone else so they can restart the clock. California is an at-will state and I've never had a temp contract, ever. This is what happens when the government starts interfering with private contracts. My brother and sister are well in their thirties and only recently got a regular full time position. Did I mention that you won't get a mortgage on a temporary contract?
And I did not even mention all the abuse I've seen of the welfare state. People who are perfectly capable of working, but choose not to because the government will provide for them, on my dime. Remember, the government uses my taxpayer money, extracted from my paycheck under the threat of a gun to my head, to pay other people not to work. Fuck that shit, and fuck the EU, for that reason alone already.
And I did not even start about civil liberties. Civil liberties in Europe, right. No freedom of speech, every ISP must retain all logs of you for 6 months, even a park ranger can check your internet history. That's why: EUSSR.
Great when you work for a large corporation. Not so great if you're a fresh out of school kid looking for some stable income and ending up not working for multi-national who "cares" about employees Not true, for example CA has Short Term Disability.
If you want to work that will be your problem. Humans love being self destructive. Nothing says self-destruction more than volunteered unpaid overtime at the expense of your family.
Talk for yourself. I easily work 60+ hours a week. Wanna know why? Because I fucking love what I'm doing. My network is my baby. And I still get to spend more than enough time with my family.
You get 2 weeks, 3 if you're lucky. We'll continue to mock you from every other country. I've never seen a large employer offer you (even with some negotiation) what most other countries get as a mandatory minimum. But hey 80 hour weeks with no vacation, you sound like you're really living your life.
At my company, there is no hard limit, and you work with HR to get what you need. Other companies I worked for, I got 3, sometimes 4. After that I'd be covered by CA SDI. I also get more than enough vacation time to do everything I want to do.
Is this another one of those "employees have the power to negotiate these contracts" thing that Americans are the only country who hasn't realised it rarely works out well for the employees?
This is the crux of our discussion. You opt to have the state take care of you by enacting laws. I opt to live in a country where I can make my own choices. I lived in the EUSSR until 2010, so I know pretty well what I'm talking about. My move to the U.S. was my best choice ever. More money, way better quality of life, for the same work and amount of work.
You as an individual can opt of the 48 hour week. That is your choice. However you can't be forced to opt out (expect in those occupations where it would be dangerous to do so).
I see you have no clue how EU labor laws work. Hint: they don't. Most of the labor laws are enacted on a national level. So where your country might enact a max of 48 hours, another country can choose differently.
So what's with the "EUSSR" label?
The European Union is looking more and more like the old Soviet Union. No freedom of speech, and an EU parliament that tries to enact and enforce legislation on a "federal" level. Whatever choices their citizens make is irrelevant. And I can give you a ton of examples, and let's start with the Ukrainian treaty as well as the EU constitution which is no longer called a constitution.
1. Employment at will. This concept is totally alien in most of the developed world.
Most at-will states have other laws protecting workers against unjust lay-offs. Try firing someone working for a large corporation in California without building a dossier and have the worker go through a Performance Improvement Plan.
At will is not "you can be fired any day".
2. No paid sick time (OK California and a few other states have made progress).
Every large corporation that I've worked for has paid sick time for all their exempt employees (and let's be honest 95% of all H1-Bs are exempt).
3. No limits on the maximum duration of the workweek. The EU's working time directive is a good start.
Luckily we do not live in the EUSSR. If I want to work 80 hours a week, that's my problem. If I don't, I can work somewhere else (H1-Bs can do that too).
4. No paid vacation or family leave. The US is quite alone here as well.
Again, every large corporation that I've worked for has their own policies for that. It may not be mandatory by law, but it is definitely offered.
5. Non-compete contracts where there is no severance pay guaranteed if you are laid off.
Which are not enforceable in a growing number of states.
6. Binding arbitration which denies your right to trial without a jury.
No, you deny that yourself when you accept the contract. You don't have to. You entered the agreement to use binding arbitration.
In the UK we
Dude, the UK is not the US. The UK is a police state where you can get in trouble for something as simple as expressing your opinion on twitter.
The UK is a socialist state. In the US, we cherish our freedoms, which we gained by kicking you lot out, remember?
Most "reasonable" countries do allow transiting without entry. The US is not one of them - landing on US soil counts as entry, even if everyone stays on the plane.
That's not necessarily because of being reasonable. It is because the physical layout of U.S. airports and the absence of exit control.
All countries I have been to (with the exception of the U.S.), have exit control as well, meaning that they check your passport prior to exiting the country. In the U.S., when you enter an international departure terminal, you can walk out just like that, most of the time. So if you would arrive on an international flight and would have another one scheduled out of the same terminal, you would still be able to walk out without any immigration control.
The solution to illegal immigration is to make source countries richer
Why would country A be responsible for country B's economy?
According to your statement, the solution to illegal immigration from Venezuela is to make Venezuela richer. While, interestingly enough, Venezuela is one of the richest countries in the world, in terms of natural resources. So why are all the people so poor?
Because they elected a bus driver as their president.
You read that right. Venezuela is a prime example of left socialist utopia failing. And whom do they blame for their failings?
Maduro blamed capitalism for speculation that is driving high rates of inflation and creating widespread shortages of staples
So go ahead, go make other countries richer. But please, don't do it with my tax money,
Then nobody would be able to get a signal through as the carriers step on each other's spectrum.
I call bullshit. I haven't seen a lot of ISPs stepping on each other's BGP announcements either.
Spectrum can be assigned by an independent organization, and that does not have to be a government.
I think violence to prevent harm is generally accepted. It's when you find out two days later and kill him that it's a crime, rather than if you come home mid-act.
If I found out two days later, I'd still do the same, provided the police don't grab the guy before I do.
But all of that does not matter. My point is that there are cases where it is crystal clear who committed a very heinous crime, and some of those crimes deserve capital punishment. For punishment and prevention purposes.
But I will emphasize that I only support capital punishment in those cases: it has to be absolutely clear whodunnit. Not one of those cases where some poor black guy from da hood is being framed by a tiny shred of DNA evidence and gets his head chopped off, only to be exonerated 30 years after the fact. Those cases are disgusting.
I don't support the death penalty even for people I'd personally happily kill because the death penalty is inherently flawed
Right. If I come home to find a guy abusing my pre-teen daughter, you bet that I will Judge Dredd this mofo's ass.
The death penalty is not flawed. It's the current process to come to that. In cases where there is absolutely no doubt about guilt (think Boston Marathon), the death penalty is something I can only welcome.
But anytime a conviction is based on nothing more than "beyond reasonable doubt", I do agree with you that capital punishment should be excluded as an option.
I think that governments DO need to step in when there is:
A: Disagree. Let a competitor start up.
B: Which means that the government did mess with the market, so my original point still applies
C: In very limited situations: yes, I agree with you
D: Disagree. Companies set their own pricing. You don't like it, you go to a competitor.
E: See C indeed.
F: Go ahead, sue OPEC.
So the government is just here to enforce the monopoly of mobile operator?
You misread my point. The government should not be involved at all. If the government would keep their dirty hands out of the mobile communications market, there would be a lot more competition.
It's about freedom of interference from government.
This. Exactly this. Governments have no business dictating pricing to private companies.
Ask Venezuela how well their pricing controls worked. Oh wait, nobody wants to do business with them anymore.