On: Comcast gets big tax break that was designed for G...

[toomuchtodo]

> When tax laws are being written specifically for a company, our government has a problem.

The government could've pursued the alternative: build out municipal broadband, and allow anyone to provide you service (competitively) at the CO/meetup room. But that's "socialism!"

The problem is not government. The problem is apathetic, uneducated, uninvolved knee jerk voters. And voters get what that deserve for being so.

[rayiner → toomuchtodo]

Voters just don't care as much about wired internet as people on where would like to believe. My parents contemplated getting rid of their FiOS internet and going back to cable because the latter has a better selection of indian channels. Nobody in my building subscribes to FiOS because Verizon doesn't have a TV license here. If you had a rock-solid 50 mbps LTE-A service here in the U.S. that for licensing reasons couldn't access Facebook, nobody would subscribe to it.

[toomuchtodo → rayiner]

> Voters just don't care as much about wired internet as people on where would like to believe.

> Nobody in my building subscribes to FiOS because Verizon doesn't have a TV license here.

> for licensing reasons couldn't access Facebook, nobody would subscribe to it.

And that's a damn shame. Let them eat cake.

[harryh → toomuchtodo]

Is it really a damn shame? I can only care about so many things. When it comes to local government I care about crime. I care about taxes. I care about overcrowding on the subway. I care about public schools.

It's hard to care about the policy details of broadband providers. My internet from Time Warner is pretty cheap, it almost never breaks, and it's plenty fast enough for Netflix to work. Why should I care much beyond that?

[toomuchtodo → harryh]

> It's hard to care about the policy details of broadband providers. My internet from Time Warner is pretty cheap, it almost never breaks, and it's plenty fast enough for Netflix to work. Why should I care much beyond that?

"I have healthcare. Why do I care about those who don't?"

[harryh → toomuchtodo]

That was the "it's pretty cheap" part. The cheapest service is 15 bucks a month. I don't see affordability as a huge problem.

[toomuchtodo → harryh]

Does Time Warner have a monopoly in your area? What service do you get for $15/month?

[harryh → toomuchtodo]

Honestly I don't know. Goes back to that point about not caring.

$15/mo gets you 3MBPS. $30/mo gets you 10. $35/mo gets you 50.

[ocdtrekkie → toomuchtodo]

Actually, a pretty large portion of our country (US), in fact, do not give a crud about healthcare beyond the notion that they, themselves, have it. People are incredibly selfish. Welcome to Earth. :)

[toomuchtodo → ocdtrekkie]

Just because America is so terribly broken doesn't mean it can't be fixed.

[lotharbot → toomuchtodo]

Consumers don't view it as "socialism". If they did, the measure wouldn't have succeeded in the very-right-wing bastion of northern Utah (UTOPIA fiber).

[jdminhbg → toomuchtodo]

> The problem is not government. The problem is apathetic, uneducated, uninvolved knee jerk voters.

These two sentences seem to contradict each other.