Not intellectually dishonest in the slightest. David... Please read and apply your analytical - not your political - skills to the idea. Please note: Medicare, OR ANY OTHER SINGLE PAYER SYSTEM of anything cannot be anything but extremely disruptive of what's in place now. Further, politicians like to call "profit" greed. Whether it's the ISP business, or fixing broken legs, the exact same principle applies. Read it through... AS businessmen we fully can understand that there is simply NO WAY we could survive if the government forced us to provide services at a percentage of our costs. Not a percentage of our PRICES, but a percentage of our COSTS.
I posted this, not because it was about medicare, which it was only vaguely, but about what happens when we decide that some service is a "right", and Congress decides to make private enterprise pay for someone else's "right". Whether it's medicare forcing doctors and hospitals to lose money to treat someone, or the FCC requiring us to service people at a loss, the problem is the same. Eventually, it results in severely degraded services, innovation stops, and we become calcified in a system where services are defined by what the government will subsidize, and there's no budget nor profit, to attempt to change anything. Does anyone not see the USF funding in this light, as well? Many players in the communications industry have business models built upon being paid FAR MORE than the retail price of their services. Not only do the consumers have no idea of the cost of providing services to them, they don't actually care. If these people had to earn their paychecks, by providing services AND making a profit from just their own revenues, their business models would change, efficiency would suddenly become important, and the consumer would be highly aware of the cost of the services they use - and use them less. Don't think it can't happen. When the cost of borrowing money suddenly skyrockets, you'd be amazed at what could end on the chopping block. In DC, flyover country doesn't matter nearly as much, and USF is all about flyover country. We keep seeing calls for the expansion of USF... Until some brighter than average beaurocrat or politician decides to make a name for himself - and either ends it, or changes it to a "medicare" style program with massive enforced discounts. Think of the billions and billions of "taxpayer dollars saved". And think of those whose business models are built upon subsidy. The whole point here, is that any and all of us can perfectly understand what would happen to us if the government required us to provide services at a percentage of our costs. Who among us has infinitely deep pockets? NONE. If that model can't work in our industry, why would work for fixing broken legs, or giving flu shots? Arguments that you needing your leg set is "more important" than needing a fast internet connection would be true, but completely irrelevant. If you can't provide services at a fraction of your costs, how can a doctor? How can a hospital pay its bills? This is why we should be so incredibly careful about how frame our industry. What if we convince Congress that broadband is almost as essential as medicine, so they come up with the brilliant plan to "Medicare" us? Do you actually think that even a single politician in DC would lose one hour's sleep if all of us were put out of business? Nope. We could spend millions lobbying and hire PR firms and ingratiate ourselves with bigwigs in the beaurocracies endlessly, but that is all utterly pointless if the free market we all use is taken away. Politics is a foundation of shifting sand. What's in vogue one day is a swear word the next. The party's ideas in charge at the moment could change overnight, and long fought for foundations of rules, subsidies and systems could evaporate, leaving you... out of luck. WISPA should, above all else, advocate for the free market. Not entrenching our industry into the whims of the ever changing shifting sands of political wind. It should be defending, ABOVE ALL ELSE, freedom to operate. RUS funds, USF funds, subsidies, and whimsical notions like the possibility of committing a "medicare" upon our industry are all traps that can spell our doom. But if the free market survives, SO CAN WE. Every time I start reading about advocating on the part of RUS or USF funds, I get this image in my mind that I just can't shake... It's about sycophants hanging around movie stars, millionaires, etc, all seeking to ingratiate themselves...for money, or security, or whatever. We despise them in real life. I was hoping that people would apply the lessons of medical services to internet services... And vice versa, in order to more intelligently think about what we want... Is that asking too much? -------------------------------------------------- From: "David E. Smith" <d...@mvn.net> Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 7:17 AM To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org> Subject: Re: [WISPA] Introducing NetCare > On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 23:01, MDK <rea...@muddyfrogwater.us> wrote: > >> >> Introducing Federal NetCare, the program to make broadband available to >> everyone. >> >> > Broadband Internet isn't the same as BASIC HUMAN WELFARE and you know it. > One is (literally) a matter of life-and-death, the other isn't. Please > quit > making intellectually dishonest comparisons. > > David Smith > MVN.net > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
