The issue is that it is possible now to watch all of the BBC's programming on demand for a week after it is broadcast without having a TV. No TV=no TV license. And the BBC is trying to expand its tax into this new medium.
The BBC can easily change that. They just don't upload their shows for free downloads. They can either charge for downloads or stop offering them.
And I say that as an American who loves the BBC. I first got into it, and Pravda-Radio Moscow, in the '80 listening to them on shortwave.
Growth industries, by definition, are those that can afford higher taxes.
Goreth industries grow because they don't have government breathing down their backs, that or they actually receive taxpayer money from the government.
Actually, you've needed an admin account since Windows XP, maybe even all the way back to Windows NT
I didn't need to log in as admin on my NT4 PC. Because I thought others might use it I tried to create a user account that did not have permission to install software or change the system, but not being a Windows admin I didn't find one.
Falcon
Oh, BTW, NT4 was the best, and only stable, version of Windows I've used.
I recently put on Ubuntu 9.0.4 on my wife's computer and it's hands down the best release yet.
I'd like to install Ubuntu on my Mac however one of the reasons for doing so is so I can use CinePaint to edit photos but it was removed from Ubuntu. So now unless I can find a way to install CinePaint in Ubuntu I don't think I'll install it.
However, i'm still in no mans land as My scanner, art pad, and games rely on windows xp
Watcom tablets work on Ubuntu. As do scanners. I have an Epson Perfection V500 scanner others have gotten to work on Ubuntu.
I truly wish Adobe would port over photoshop to Linux.
So do I but people have gotten CS2 to run in CrossOver and CS3 in WINE. Others have gotten CS4 to run in Ubuntu, though not perfectly.
If I can't get CinePaint to install I may end up getting Photoshop myself. I want to try CinePaint first though to see if it will do what I want. If I do get PH I'll probably buy it off eBay where older versions can be bought cheap then upgraded.
"Windows is indeed a lot like an Escalade. An overpriced, bloated, and inefficient showcase of false beauty.
And linux is like an inelegant car built out of parts from many disjointed suppliers. The paint on the panels doesn't match. You may or may not be able to get it serviced if anything goes wrong, and chances are you'll have to get real familiar with a collection of wrenches and screwdrivers. And of course if you want to change the tail lights you'll have to rebuild the engine.
While that's one of the better car analogies I've seen it's wrong. Whereas Windows needs to be taken to a mechanic, er Windows tech, to be serviced Linux can be fixed by a shade tree mechanic. Now while I've compleatly rebuilt car engines I've only added and replaced PC parts. Mostly on Windows PCs because they kept on failing.
I mean that it's still a bad idea to try to push new users into Linux
I agree however...
when you have to do something not exposed by pretty control panels you need a level of understanding far beyond that of the average user. In the words of above commenters, "hand holding."
Windows , and Macs, require hand holding too. How many people even know about control panels? If they do know then Linux distros like Ubuntu have their own versions. Go System Administration or System Preferences. About 2 1/2 years ago I got a new PC with Linux preinstalled. When I first booted up the desktop reminded me of and looked like a Windows desktop. Plugging in and using external and flask drives was just as easy as with Windows, plug them in and within a few seconds an icon appeared on the desktop. Double clicked and they open and can be used. Plug in a printer and it asks if you want to install a driver.
If a person isn't knowledgeable then they could have someone install a VM, of course it requires knowledge to know about them. That's what I had planned, I'd like to install Ubuntu on my Mac. Then I'd run Ubuntu in a VM on Leopard. I was also looking for a way to run Leopard in a VM on Ubuntu. This would eliminate reboots.
If Windows runs their application du jour and does the rest fairly well
This is why I'm having second thought about installing Ubuntu. One of the reasons I want to is to use CinePaint, however Ubuntu dropped CinePaint. I'll do more research to see if I can get them to work together. If I can find a way I'll install Ubuntu but if not I probably won't.
which it does
I switched from Windows because I was sick and tired of it always crashing. I could have bought a new PC with Vista, it is supposed to be more stable. But I hate Activation, spyware, and being treated like a criminal. Others are sick of them and viruses. I don't buy computers to suffer through crashes, I buy them to use them.
Dude, go to the download page, download the source. Double click to unpack the zip ( or tar.gz). Open a terminal and type
It's not as simple as you make it out to be. Downloading and compiling the source code is not enough. Among other things it requires GTK1 which Debian and therefore Ubuntu dropped support for. It brings a whole new meaning to Windows' "dependency hell". There is a.deb package but it is experimental.
Why don't you run the OS X version of Cinepaint, available from their sourceforge page?
I installed CinePaint on my Mac and I was not able to get it to work. Every time I started it all I got was a title bar. There is no native Mac port for OS X, for OS X CinePaint requires X11 which I installed way before I ever installed CinePaint.
Maybe its been a while since you looked at it, according to their page it looks like debian and ubuntu are supported.
CinePaint has not been in Ubuntu since 8.10 intrepid. Search Ubuntu Studio and it returns no results for CinePaint. If CinePaint is part of it why doesn't it return anything? Now the CinePaint website does have a link to a.deb package but Debian has not supported it for years. According to CinePaint "CinePaint was removed from Debian lenny (testing) because Debian has dropped support for GTK1." The Debian people who worked on CinePaint are no longer there. And the.deb available is experimental.
I did my research to see if Ubuntu would do what I wanted.
Pulling an OS X and taking away all of the user's power so they can't break anything is not a good policy.
Admin accounts can be created on OS X as well as Linux. I'm typing this on a Mac and one of the first things I did when I got it, having switched from Windows, was to create two user accounts. Of course I created an admin account then I created a regular user account which is the account I'm using now. I only log into the admin account when I install something, run updates, or if I have trouble. Using Linux I do the same thing.
Oh, doesn't Vista also need an admin account account to play with the system? From what I understand MS finally got smart about that.
I've been wanting to install Ubuntu on my Mac, and almost bought the book "Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux (Versions 8.10 and 8.04), A (2nd Edition)" last night. Unfortunately one of the reasons I want to install a Linux distro is to run CinePaint but it was dropped from Ubuntu. Unless I can find a way to install CinePaint I don't think I'll install Ubuntu.
I'm not as sure about airwaves being viable competition for fiber.
It could be for local access in high density areas such as cities. WiMax is growing by leaps and bounds in Asia. Spending is high in both China and India, by 2013 India may be the biggest WiMax market in Asia. If they can do it I see no reason the US can't, as long as the incumbents are kept out of the way. But of course they'll fight it tooth and nail if they can't have a piece of it. Now I'll admit fiber can provide more bandwidth but it's possible to get as fast a broadband as many people get now from cable and DSL.
Last night, er today, I finished reinstalling Leopard. I went into an Apple store Monday because Finder kept on freezing on me. There a genius at the bar did a couple of things then suggested I reinstall Leopard. When he did specifically told me that when I do to partition to hardrive first, as a simple reinstall wouldn't delete all the files. So I went ahead and created 3 partitions. Actually I created 3 and formated them then deleted then all before reforming then creating 3 new ones. So now on my 320 GB hdd, which I had installed to replace the 160 GB disk my laptop came with, has 2 partitions 30 GB each with the rest taking up the third partition. I installed Leopard on the first. The second one, 238 GB, I set as the home or user partition. And the third partition I plan to use for Ubuntu. Actually now that I think of it I may go out tonight after sending my slashdot replies to pick up a Ubuntu disk. I think I'll get "Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux (Versions 8.10 and 8.04), A (2nd Edition). Barnes and Noble has it on sale for $35, regular price is $50. It comes with a live dvd so I can try Ubuntu before installing it. Then I'll also order it from Amazon, because they have it a few dollars cheaper, and then it arrives take it to B&N as a return.
However before I install Ubuntu I want to make sure I have a plan mapped out on exactly how to install it, including what happens if a problem comes to dinner.
I left out the server version because I will guess that most regular home user is going to use the server version
Actually I'd think most people who install Ubuntu would install the desktop version, maybe that's what you meant as well, because I can't see most people wanting to run a server.
With MS you have 'home regular', 'home better' 'home ultimate' 'business regular' 'business super-awesome'. (Something like that, having fun).
While Ubuntu doesn't have as many versions in one way, desktop or server, in another way it has more versions. There's Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu, Studio, and others with different window managers or desktops as well as 32 bit and 64 bit versions.
Not sure which side you are falling on, but I still think MS keeps shoving out unfinished products out the door for more moeny.
In a way I agree. MS releases new stuff before it's ready. But then it releases service packs to fix whatever. Get the software on as many computers as quickly as possible then fix bugs. That's not really much different than some Linux distros though, look at Ubuntu. Canonical decided to release 2 major releases a year. Last year they were 8.04 and 8.10. So far this year we have 9.04. I noticed it isn't labeled as an LTS, Long Term Support which offers 3 years support instead of 18 months, whereas 8.04 was so I guess this tyme 9.10 will be LTS.
Oh, as far as MS goes, as I've said on./ and elsewhere I don't like Microsoft. However I don't wish they were gone. I want more competition not less, and with a smaller MS there would be more.
it will influence your opinion (although whether that influence is towards more funding, privatization, or better management can vary).
No it wouldn't, waiting is part of why I do not like socialized medicine.
Just in case someone out there has the numbers, what about the relative life expectancy of people over 65 in Canada and the United States, broken down by annual income or personal net assets?
Reading it I see one of the comments, by a Quebecois, says "Yes the health care is that bad here. But then again where is it perfect? The population is growing old, hospitals are overcrowded, our government spends most of our tax money for it and its still not enough. But at least we don't have to pay for health care. I'm happy to pay taxes that help elders and sick people get treated."
As many as they want to pay for - typically one pair each time the business signs up a new customer. I'm not suggesting giving the fiber away for free. The idea is for the city to pay for the up front costs, and then make it back leasing access to anyone for a reasonable rate.
I'm okay with cities doing this, if the people there vote for it. But I am not for the federal government doing it.
In the GGP, the government would also own switching infrastructure, and possibly also operate the services.
I don't see that in the GGGP where the government owns the switches or operates it though I do see "service providers buy capacity and resell it with their own packages."
Government involvement in services offered would cause stagnation.
I agree which is why I oppose government providing services. Government, local governments that is, can own the infrastructure but then they should be required to offer open access. The problem I see with this is it could block some technology. However that's how things are now, the incumbent cable and phone companies do what they can to block competition now.
What I really think would help, seeing as the last mile is a big hurdle, would be if the airwaves were freed. By allowing whoever to erect transceivers and offer wireless broadband there should be more competition. I kind of hoped the airwave auction last year would lead to that, though I'd have preferred if they had been freed and not just auctioned off.
When the Bush administration started just over 8 years ago, one of its major goals was to privatize social security... everyone would get their own account... in the stock market.
Only if they wanted an account in the stockmarket. Even then though there are different types of stocks to invest in as well as different strategies. Someone young should be able to weather the current recession. Someone closer to retirement should be shifting their investment portfolio to value stocks and investments that generate an income not growth. In 3, 4, or 10 years the current economic recession may very well be a blip on the screen. The economy has recovered from every other recession. Even if you include the Great Depression of the 1930s. I don't have a reference right now but even with the depression stocks increased in value by more than 10% a year during the 1900s. And compound interest works wonders. If an 18 year old were to invest $2000 a year for 7 years, until the age of 25, then didn't invest another dime by the tyme they were 65 and they got 10% growth they would have almost a million dollars by retirement. By then they should already have paid off their home and so should live quite well on the interest and dividends paid to them.
Do you think Social Security will pay that much?
Now consider what has happened in the stock market since then. What happens to all the people who depend on that "fixed income" from social security when it would now be easily cut in half?
This does bring up a problem, however those workers who are not near retirement should be able to set aside some of the social security taxes they pay into an investment portfolio. Now, to fix SS for those close to or are in retirement. One possible solution is to open up the borders and allow immigrants to legally work here. Make them pay social security without the eligibility to collect it later. Unless they become US citizens. However most would not want to do that, most want to send money home or save it then go back to where they came from.
But what happens to the economy as a whole?
The current economic recession we're in now may never have happened if more people saved and invested more money for retirement instead of depending on government handouts. Reduce or eliminate taxes and both spending and investing will increase. Both of those raise employment, which raises wages.
A bunch of people lose their houses because they can no longer pay their mortgages and taxes.
Many of those people bought houses they could not have afforded, they brought it upon themselves. And banks and other mortgages lenders lent money to them. If those banks had not been bailed out then banks that did not make bad loans would still be standing. All it did was enrich a few at the expense of everyone else.
We already have a glut of houses on the market, adding more houses only makes the problem worse.
Yea, I don't expect it to bottom out before fall, then I'm hoping I'll be able to buy one. I doubt it but I hope.
Then consider the hoards of homeless old people.
That's dealt with above, increase spending and investing by lowering taxes.
Question, were you ever homeless or did you ever work with the homeless? Though not homeless myself I did work with homeless people. No not as a social worker, but literally with them, between jobs and college I worked through a day labor pool. You simply show up in the morning and sign in, then you wait until someone who needs help calls in. I know about the homeless.
This exercise in identifying systemic costs due to a lack of a functioning social security system can go on for a quite a while.
A functioning social system does not need government. For ages civil societies have helped many. The comedian and actor Dann
That's too much hard work. At least it seems that's the attitude many have. I admit I don't go out much anymore but I prefer doing over watching. Then again some of what I like doing isn't shown on TV much if at all, such as scuba diving.
Torrent was EXACTLY the word I was looking for. Thank you, The Economist!
If you think that happened by accident, you don't read The Economist regularly. That's exactly the sort of dry wit their writers use.
You read "Economist"? I thought I was about the only one on/. to read it. I think a lot of people would be surprised by some of the articles they publish. At first I thought it would be boring to me but after running across some articles I found interesting I started reading it semi-regularly. They're not all strictly about economics.
Slashdot Mirror
The issue is that it is possible now to watch all of the BBC's programming on demand for a week after it is broadcast without having a TV. No TV=no TV license. And the BBC is trying to expand its tax into this new medium.
The BBC can easily change that. They just don't upload their shows for free downloads. They can either charge for downloads or stop offering them.
And I say that as an American who loves the BBC. I first got into it, and Pravda-Radio Moscow, in the '80 listening to them on shortwave.
Falcon
This is why international corporations are packing up and moving operations to countries with less regulation and less taxation
Just when "Obama Calls for New Curbs on Offshore Tax Havens".
Falcon
Growth industries, by definition, are those that can afford higher taxes.
Goreth industries grow because they don't have government breathing down their backs, that or they actually receive taxpayer money from the government.
Falcon
Depending on who "they" are. Socialists don't like businesses making a profit whereas others want to dictate people's personal lives.
Falcon
Actually, you've needed an admin account since Windows XP, maybe even all the way back to Windows NT
I didn't need to log in as admin on my NT4 PC. Because I thought others might use it I tried to create a user account that did not have permission to install software or change the system, but not being a Windows admin I didn't find one.
Falcon
Oh, BTW, NT4 was the best, and only stable, version of Windows I've used.
I recently put on Ubuntu 9.0.4 on my wife's computer and it's hands down the best release yet.
I'd like to install Ubuntu on my Mac however one of the reasons for doing so is so I can use CinePaint to edit photos but it was removed from Ubuntu. So now unless I can find a way to install CinePaint in Ubuntu I don't think I'll install it.
However, i'm still in no mans land as My scanner, art pad, and games rely on windows xp
Watcom tablets work on Ubuntu. As do scanners. I have an Epson Perfection V500 scanner others have gotten to work on Ubuntu.
I truly wish Adobe would port over photoshop to Linux.
So do I but people have gotten CS2 to run in CrossOver and CS3 in WINE. Others have gotten CS4 to run in Ubuntu, though not perfectly.
If I can't get CinePaint to install I may end up getting Photoshop myself. I want to try CinePaint first though to see if it will do what I want. If I do get PH I'll probably buy it off eBay where older versions can be bought cheap then upgraded.
Falcon
Its a good computer replacement except....
A) Can't edit documents
iPhones can edit Word documents.
B) No Flash
Flash does run on iPhones.
F) Little to no software or abilities to do some basic financial things (e-file taxes, etc)
Here are 10 iPhone Finance Apps That Count for iPhones and iPods.
Falcon
"Windows is indeed a lot like an Escalade. An overpriced, bloated, and inefficient showcase of false beauty.
And linux is like an inelegant car built out of parts from many disjointed suppliers. The paint on the panels doesn't match. You may or may not be able to get it serviced if anything goes wrong, and chances are you'll have to get real familiar with a collection of wrenches and screwdrivers. And of course if you want to change the tail lights you'll have to rebuild the engine.
While that's one of the better car analogies I've seen it's wrong. Whereas Windows needs to be taken to a mechanic, er Windows tech, to be serviced Linux can be fixed by a shade tree mechanic. Now while I've compleatly rebuilt car engines I've only added and replaced PC parts. Mostly on Windows PCs because they kept on failing.
Falcon
I mean that it's still a bad idea to try to push new users into Linux
I agree however...
when you have to do something not exposed by pretty control panels you need a level of understanding far beyond that of the average user. In the words of above commenters, "hand holding."
Windows , and Macs, require hand holding too. How many people even know about control panels? If they do know then Linux distros like Ubuntu have their own versions. Go System Administration or System Preferences. About 2 1/2 years ago I got a new PC with Linux preinstalled. When I first booted up the desktop reminded me of and looked like a Windows desktop. Plugging in and using external and flask drives was just as easy as with Windows, plug them in and within a few seconds an icon appeared on the desktop. Double clicked and they open and can be used. Plug in a printer and it asks if you want to install a driver.
Falcon
If a person isn't knowledgeable then they could have someone install a VM, of course it requires knowledge to know about them. That's what I had planned, I'd like to install Ubuntu on my Mac. Then I'd run Ubuntu in a VM on Leopard. I was also looking for a way to run Leopard in a VM on Ubuntu. This would eliminate reboots.
If Windows runs their application du jour and does the rest fairly well
This is why I'm having second thought about installing Ubuntu. One of the reasons I want to is to use CinePaint, however Ubuntu dropped CinePaint. I'll do more research to see if I can get them to work together. If I can find a way I'll install Ubuntu but if not I probably won't.
which it does
I switched from Windows because I was sick and tired of it always crashing. I could have bought a new PC with Vista, it is supposed to be more stable. But I hate Activation, spyware, and being treated like a criminal. Others are sick of them and viruses. I don't buy computers to suffer through crashes, I buy them to use them.
Falcon
(don't buy a new ipod, before buying a printer check here or call me, etc.)
Sounds like it's ready for regular desktop usage to me!
Yeap, just the same as Windows.
Falcon
So Ubuntu works if it's accompanied with personal hand-holding from a dedicated and highly knowledgeable guru.
OS X and Windows requires hand holding too.
Falcon
Dude, go to the download page, download the source. Double click to unpack the zip ( or tar.gz). Open a terminal and type
It's not as simple as you make it out to be. Downloading and compiling the source code is not enough. Among other things it requires GTK1 which Debian and therefore Ubuntu dropped support for. It brings a whole new meaning to Windows' "dependency hell". There is a .deb package but it is experimental.
Falcon
Why don't you run the OS X version of Cinepaint, available from their sourceforge page?
I installed CinePaint on my Mac and I was not able to get it to work. Every time I started it all I got was a title bar. There is no native Mac port for OS X, for OS X CinePaint requires X11 which I installed way before I ever installed CinePaint.
Falcon
Maybe its been a while since you looked at it, according to their page it looks like debian and ubuntu are supported.
CinePaint has not been in Ubuntu since 8.10 intrepid. Search Ubuntu Studio and it returns no results for CinePaint. If CinePaint is part of it why doesn't it return anything? Now the CinePaint website does have a link to a .deb package but Debian has not supported it for years. According to CinePaint "CinePaint was removed from Debian lenny (testing) because Debian has dropped support for GTK1." The Debian people who worked on CinePaint are no longer there. And the .deb available is experimental.
I did my research to see if Ubuntu would do what I wanted.
Falcon
Pulling an OS X and taking away all of the user's power so they can't break anything is not a good policy.
Admin accounts can be created on OS X as well as Linux. I'm typing this on a Mac and one of the first things I did when I got it, having switched from Windows, was to create two user accounts. Of course I created an admin account then I created a regular user account which is the account I'm using now. I only log into the admin account when I install something, run updates, or if I have trouble. Using Linux I do the same thing.
Oh, doesn't Vista also need an admin account account to play with the system? From what I understand MS finally got smart about that.
Falcon
i always install the latest LTS version of ubuntu
I've been wanting to install Ubuntu on my Mac, and almost bought the book "Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux (Versions 8.10 and 8.04), A (2nd Edition)" last night. Unfortunately one of the reasons I want to install a Linux distro is to run CinePaint but it was dropped from Ubuntu. Unless I can find a way to install CinePaint I don't think I'll install Ubuntu.
Falcon
I'm not as sure about airwaves being viable competition for fiber.
It could be for local access in high density areas such as cities. WiMax is growing by leaps and bounds in Asia. Spending is high in both China and India, by 2013 India may be the biggest WiMax market in Asia. If they can do it I see no reason the US can't, as long as the incumbents are kept out of the way. But of course they'll fight it tooth and nail if they can't have a piece of it. Now I'll admit fiber can provide more bandwidth but it's possible to get as fast a broadband as many people get now from cable and DSL.
Falcon
Hmm, haven't had a problem with 10.5 yet.
Last night, er today, I finished reinstalling Leopard. I went into an Apple store Monday because Finder kept on freezing on me. There a genius at the bar did a couple of things then suggested I reinstall Leopard. When he did specifically told me that when I do to partition to hardrive first, as a simple reinstall wouldn't delete all the files. So I went ahead and created 3 partitions. Actually I created 3 and formated them then deleted then all before reforming then creating 3 new ones. So now on my 320 GB hdd, which I had installed to replace the 160 GB disk my laptop came with, has 2 partitions 30 GB each with the rest taking up the third partition. I installed Leopard on the first. The second one, 238 GB, I set as the home or user partition. And the third partition I plan to use for Ubuntu. Actually now that I think of it I may go out tonight after sending my slashdot replies to pick up a Ubuntu disk. I think I'll get "Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux (Versions 8.10 and 8.04), A (2nd Edition). Barnes and Noble has it on sale for $35, regular price is $50. It comes with a live dvd so I can try Ubuntu before installing it. Then I'll also order it from Amazon, because they have it a few dollars cheaper, and then it arrives take it to B&N as a return.
However before I install Ubuntu I want to make sure I have a plan mapped out on exactly how to install it, including what happens if a problem comes to dinner.
I left out the server version because I will guess that most regular home user is going to use the server version
Actually I'd think most people who install Ubuntu would install the desktop version, maybe that's what you meant as well, because I can't see most people wanting to run a server.
With MS you have 'home regular', 'home better' 'home ultimate' 'business regular' 'business super-awesome'. (Something like that, having fun).
While Ubuntu doesn't have as many versions in one way, desktop or server, in another way it has more versions. There's Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu, Studio, and others with different window managers or desktops as well as 32 bit and 64 bit versions.
Not sure which side you are falling on, but I still think MS keeps shoving out unfinished products out the door for more moeny.
In a way I agree. MS releases new stuff before it's ready. But then it releases service packs to fix whatever. Get the software on as many computers as quickly as possible then fix bugs. That's not really much different than some Linux distros though, look at Ubuntu. Canonical decided to release 2 major releases a year. Last year they were 8.04 and 8.10. So far this year we have 9.04. I noticed it isn't labeled as an LTS, Long Term Support which offers 3 years support instead of 18 months, whereas 8.04 was so I guess this tyme 9.10 will be LTS.
Oh, as far as MS goes, as I've said on ./ and elsewhere I don't like Microsoft. However I don't wish they were gone. I want more competition not less, and with a smaller MS there would be more.
Falcon
it will influence your opinion (although whether that influence is towards more funding, privatization, or better management can vary).
No it wouldn't, waiting is part of why I do not like socialized medicine.
Just in case someone out there has the numbers, what about the relative life expectancy of people over 65 in Canada and the United States, broken down by annual income or personal net assets?
It's not broken down by income or wealth but the List of countries by life expectancy does list average life expectancy. Oh, lest someone objects to wiki, it was the first result when I googled "life expectancy" canada "united states". However "a casual look at life expectancy statistics reveals no obvious pattern".
The Barbarian Invasions
Reading it I see one of the comments, by a Quebecois, says "Yes the health care is that bad here. But then again where is it perfect? The population is growing old, hospitals are overcrowded, our government spends most of our tax money for it and its still not enough. But at least we don't have to pay for health care. I'm happy to pay taxes that help elders and sick people get treated."
Falcon
As many as they want to pay for - typically one pair each time the business signs up a new customer. I'm not suggesting giving the fiber away for free. The idea is for the city to pay for the up front costs, and then make it back leasing access to anyone for a reasonable rate.
I'm okay with cities doing this, if the people there vote for it. But I am not for the federal government doing it.
In the GGP, the government would also own switching infrastructure, and possibly also operate the services.
I don't see that in the GGGP where the government owns the switches or operates it though I do see "service providers buy capacity and resell it with their own packages."
Government involvement in services offered would cause stagnation.
I agree which is why I oppose government providing services. Government, local governments that is, can own the infrastructure but then they should be required to offer open access. The problem I see with this is it could block some technology. However that's how things are now, the incumbent cable and phone companies do what they can to block competition now.
What I really think would help, seeing as the last mile is a big hurdle, would be if the airwaves were freed. By allowing whoever to erect transceivers and offer wireless broadband there should be more competition. I kind of hoped the airwave auction last year would lead to that, though I'd have preferred if they had been freed and not just auctioned off.
Falcon
Have you ever heard of and read the USA Constitution? It does not give the federal government the power over Medicaid, medicare, or social security.
It's also disingenuous of you to state social services are all evil when you yourself are already benefiting from them.
I did not say it was evil, so because you want to make things up I'm ending this here.
Falcon
When the Bush administration started just over 8 years ago, one of its major goals was to privatize social security... everyone would get their own account... in the stock market.
Only if they wanted an account in the stockmarket. Even then though there are different types of stocks to invest in as well as different strategies. Someone young should be able to weather the current recession. Someone closer to retirement should be shifting their investment portfolio to value stocks and investments that generate an income not growth. In 3, 4, or 10 years the current economic recession may very well be a blip on the screen. The economy has recovered from every other recession. Even if you include the Great Depression of the 1930s. I don't have a reference right now but even with the depression stocks increased in value by more than 10% a year during the 1900s. And compound interest works wonders. If an 18 year old were to invest $2000 a year for 7 years, until the age of 25, then didn't invest another dime by the tyme they were 65 and they got 10% growth they would have almost a million dollars by retirement. By then they should already have paid off their home and so should live quite well on the interest and dividends paid to them.
Do you think Social Security will pay that much?
Now consider what has happened in the stock market since then. What happens to all the people who depend on that "fixed income" from social security when it would now be easily cut in half?
This does bring up a problem, however those workers who are not near retirement should be able to set aside some of the social security taxes they pay into an investment portfolio. Now, to fix SS for those close to or are in retirement. One possible solution is to open up the borders and allow immigrants to legally work here. Make them pay social security without the eligibility to collect it later. Unless they become US citizens. However most would not want to do that, most want to send money home or save it then go back to where they came from.
But what happens to the economy as a whole?
The current economic recession we're in now may never have happened if more people saved and invested more money for retirement instead of depending on government handouts. Reduce or eliminate taxes and both spending and investing will increase. Both of those raise employment, which raises wages.
A bunch of people lose their houses because they can no longer pay their mortgages and taxes.
Many of those people bought houses they could not have afforded, they brought it upon themselves. And banks and other mortgages lenders lent money to them. If those banks had not been bailed out then banks that did not make bad loans would still be standing. All it did was enrich a few at the expense of everyone else.
We already have a glut of houses on the market, adding more houses only makes the problem worse.
Yea, I don't expect it to bottom out before fall, then I'm hoping I'll be able to buy one. I doubt it but I hope.
Then consider the hoards of homeless old people.
That's dealt with above, increase spending and investing by lowering taxes.
Question, were you ever homeless or did you ever work with the homeless? Though not homeless myself I did work with homeless people. No not as a social worker, but literally with them, between jobs and college I worked through a day labor pool. You simply show up in the morning and sign in, then you wait until someone who needs help calls in. I know about the homeless.
This exercise in identifying systemic costs due to a lack of a functioning social security system can go on for a quite a while.
A functioning social system does not need government. For ages civil societies have helped many. The comedian and actor Dann
Going outside and playing them yourself?
That's too much hard work. At least it seems that's the attitude many have. I admit I don't go out much anymore but I prefer doing over watching. Then again some of what I like doing isn't shown on TV much if at all, such as scuba diving.
Falcon
Torrent was EXACTLY the word I was looking for. Thank you, The Economist!
If you think that happened by accident, you don't read The Economist regularly. That's exactly the sort of dry wit their writers use.
You read "Economist"? I thought I was about the only one on /. to read it. I think a lot of people would be surprised by some of the articles they publish. At first I thought it would be boring to me but after running across some articles I found interesting I started reading it semi-regularly. They're not all strictly about economics.
Falcon