> The "megacorp" is bearing the cost. We expect ROI. That is basic > capitalism. We know the government isn't going to help us do this. > > We are doing this on our own. That is how America is supposed > to work.
Sounds like a viable business plan to me. I hope Verizon is successful and wildly reaps the benefits of their very substantial investment. Unfortunately, for too many of our friends, qualities such as risk and reward, investment and a return on it, are a distant second to "gimmee, gimmee, gimmee," as if high-speed internet access is a national birthright. Most of the municipal wi-fi systems around the country, that were supposed to be oh-so-cheap to implement and have people fighting to get in line to get it, are languishing from low-ball cost projections, over-optimistic revenue estimates, low enrollment, mismanagement, idiotic partnerships, poor engineering and plain old city guvmint corruption. By any reasonable standard, these projects are abject failures. With all of these modern-day examples, you'd think people would get the memo about the futility of betting other people's money on for-profit ventures. Markets are very good at allocating the resources needed for products and services, when they're actually allowed to have competitors within it. Better yet, investors and businesses are only betting their own money, at least in the non-T. Bone Pickens world. When Verizon has to ask for permission from the powers that be to provide this service to areas that are locked up by monopolized systems, (think *most* of the country) thanks to local guvmints and sweetheart deals cut decades ago, it's no wonder high-speed internet access is in the state that's it's in. ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
