On Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:33:09 -0700, the renowned Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sun, 13 Apr 2008 10:32:38 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm,
Spehro Pefhany quickly quoth:

On Sun, 13 Apr 2008 05:33:50 -0700, the renowned Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:49:13 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm,
clare at snyder dot ontario dot canada quickly quoth:

On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 05:36:20 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

What do you think about taking oil/gas under the public utility
umbrella? I like the idea but haven't quite thought it through yet.

Public utility? What dat?
Hydro used to be public in Ontario. Ain't no more.
Natural gas used to be public utility in many cities. Only a few still
hanging on.
Even our highways are going into private hands - along with airports,
etc etc.

How is that working out for y'all?

All the private sector competition is resulting in higher prices, more
user fees, and taxes only increasing slowly ('till they have spent all
the proceeds from selling off publically owned assets, of course)

Since when does competition increase prices?!?

When a sort of monopoly (a bridge, an expressway, a concession at an
airport, space in the RF spectrum) is sold to the highest bidder...
IOW when the competition is in gaining control over the captive
customers rather than serving the customers.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com