Car dealerships are extremely anticompetitive and politically connected. But they are hardly the only industry like this. Tesla and other innovators are already or soon will be a countervailing political and commercial force, with consumer demand playing a big role. The car dealership cartel will soon be broken - this Ohio move is a death throe.
The same can't be said for many other industries, however. Cable TV/local broadband is an easy target but is being disrupted too. I'd focus my outrage on agriculture. The Farm Bill is a far bigger handout, affecting far more consumers, than car dealerships' (relatively) petty corruption.
So that's how he's come up with such consistent hits over a multi-decade career, so many of which connect to the hopes and fears of working Americans. Turns out he was connecting with them a little more directly and often than they though.
The problem here is not that Verizon can't justify such a fee. Nobody selling anything needs to "justify" their price, not least because it's unclear what that even means. The only meaningful measure of value for anything is what someone else will pay for it. And people are apparently willing to pay $5/month for an unlisted number.
That does not mean that this price is not outrageous. It is. If Verizon had any competitors at all, the price would be much lower.
The problem here is not "price-gouging" - it's monopoly.
Of course you can claim you forgot. But the judge has to believe you or you will get the same punishment as if you refuse to disclose. So the issue becomes how to plausibly forget. Some below suggest complicated two-factor authentication. But it might be enough just to cite the rarity of strong passwords - if they were easy to use/remember, everyone would use them. You do, but, predictably, you forgot yours. It's a stressful time, you know.
Just make sure you never write the password down. Not only because it could be discovered before you destroy it, but because destroying it could be construed as destruction of physical evidence, opening you up to obstruction of justice charges even if you are exonerated.
I see you've installed AdBlock Mark I in your grey matter. Demographics have shown that those who do so are a small percentage of real-life users and make fewer impulse purchases. Please lobotomize yourself before reloading this page.
"Maybe... maybe not. Hard drive platters are made of glass or aluminum, while flash memory is made of silicon"
Erm...what do you think glass is, primarily? This is like saying demand for ice won't affect water prices.
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Car dealerships are extremely anticompetitive and politically connected. But they are hardly the only industry like this. Tesla and other innovators are already or soon will be a countervailing political and commercial force, with consumer demand playing a big role. The car dealership cartel will soon be broken - this Ohio move is a death throe. The same can't be said for many other industries, however. Cable TV/local broadband is an easy target but is being disrupted too. I'd focus my outrage on agriculture. The Farm Bill is a far bigger handout, affecting far more consumers, than car dealerships' (relatively) petty corruption.
So that's how he's come up with such consistent hits over a multi-decade career, so many of which connect to the hopes and fears of working Americans. Turns out he was connecting with them a little more directly and often than they though.
The problem here is not that Verizon can't justify such a fee. Nobody selling anything needs to "justify" their price, not least because it's unclear what that even means. The only meaningful measure of value for anything is what someone else will pay for it. And people are apparently willing to pay $5/month for an unlisted number.
That does not mean that this price is not outrageous. It is. If Verizon had any competitors at all, the price would be much lower.
The problem here is not "price-gouging" - it's monopoly.
Of course you can claim you forgot. But the judge has to believe you or you will get the same punishment as if you refuse to disclose. So the issue becomes how to plausibly forget. Some below suggest complicated two-factor authentication. But it might be enough just to cite the rarity of strong passwords - if they were easy to use/remember, everyone would use them. You do, but, predictably, you forgot yours. It's a stressful time, you know.
Just make sure you never write the password down. Not only because it could be discovered before you destroy it, but because destroying it could be construed as destruction of physical evidence, opening you up to obstruction of justice charges even if you are exonerated.
I see you've installed AdBlock Mark I in your grey matter. Demographics have shown that those who do so are a small percentage of real-life users and make fewer impulse purchases. Please lobotomize yourself before reloading this page.
"Maybe... maybe not. Hard drive platters are made of glass or aluminum, while flash memory is made of silicon" Erm...what do you think glass is, primarily? This is like saying demand for ice won't affect water prices.