Fred Holmes <f...@his.com> escribió:
I suspect that socialist countries simply "decide" (legislate) that the
government will provide the infrastructure and the government goes ahead and does it.
Tax rates are a whole lot higher in most other countries.
In the U.S. it was legislated that "everyone gets a phone" "at a reasonable rate." The phone
company that does business in a geographic area must provide/offer phone service to "everyone" in that
geographical area at a "reasonable" (price controlled) rate. We haven't yet done that with Internet access.
The American fantasy promoted by corporations is that taxes are bad, and
taxes are so much higher in European countries with cradle to grave
popular social programs. Actually Americans pay much more in money and
time for basic necessities that others elsewhere have decided that all
their citizens--and guests--have a right to be covered by popular
government programs. These programs aren't necessarily provided by the
governments either; however things like health care are universal, with
government oversight of private nonprofits more often than
government-run programs.
When I worked for a European company, even the youngest employees had 6
weeks vacation, higher salaries than their American counterparts, better
medical coverage and better retirement benefits. That was part of the
social agreement where the highest paid employee/manager made 20X that
of the lowest paid employee/manager. For the top manager to get more
money, the lowest paid employees got raises. When business was slow,
everyone took cuts in pay and hours worked. This didn't extend to US
employees, because our laws don't require treating employees well, like
people, instead of interchangeable cogs in a machine. It doesn't have to
be that way.
Broadband Internet connections are a necessity for individuals,
businesses and schools. Success in many areas depends on broadband
access. The choice is broadband or national failure. Why object to a
national broadband infrastructure? Corporations tell you it's bad? Well
then it must be good. Fred, you are a victim of corporate propaganda
that socialism is bad--it's not. Socialism is simply providing for the
people first, not corporations first. Leave the country for a while and
go where people enjoy a better standard of living--and it's not the US.
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