Deregulation, especially phone service

We are told continually that deregulation leads to lower prices. I say bullshit!

I stayed with ATT when Calfornia deregulated. I make no long distance calls. My phone bill just went from 5.82 to 14.01. I agreed to no changes I have not changed my phoning habits.

California switched me to SBC, now we are back to a monopoly of ATT.

After four different calls to four different numbers, and many Pakistani sounding operators. I find that ATT added the charge of 8.32 per month to my bill for just the mere chance that I may make a long distance call in the future.

Since deregulation we now have to pay for a service we may never use. In the past you paid for what you used. So I've had to resort to disabling my phone from making long distance calls. That's how deregulation has served me. I hope that I will not have an emergency where I will need to make a long distance call. Guess I'll have to go to a pay phone. The joys of capitalism.

I have also lived through the Enron crap of power/utility deregulation. The only people deregulation seem to serve are the wealthy and speculators.

 

I guess none of you have problems with your bills. Something I failed to mention in the original post. After connecting I was informed that my call might be recorded, if I did not agree to let the operator know, when I reached an operator I ask... in fact demanded that my call not be recorded, guess what they didn't know how to turn it off.

 

The deregulation of big businesses has been a disaster not only with phone companies,but MOST companies.Prices do NOT go down in most cases,often they go up,the only thing that goes down is quality.Even the airlines in the US "used" to be regulated,and it was a pleaure to fly,now it is not.The terms capitalism and free enterprise etc. have been used to defend some of the WORST policies in the last 25 years or so.America used to regulate its companies,and it worked much better.How would people feel if their water supply was not regulated for safety in the name of "capitalism"?Would you feel safe drinking it?

 

I don't know how long California has been deregulated.
If it was not so long ago, maybe it just takes time for there to be healthy competition.
Which leads to prices falling (competing for business).
Where I live, there is quite a few to choose from, all offering free calls, free broadband
and TV packages.

 

no, instead it's handled by a municipality that awards the contract to the lowest bidder, or in the areas that treat it themselves, by underpaid, unmotivated employees. think about the guy working at mcdonalds who doesn't care if the patty that he just dropped on the floor goes out on the next burger, then have that guy, or one with his attitude, and not much more education, handling a process that takes polluted water, adds highly toxic chemcials to it, adds more to neutralize the ones just added, then flushes it back out into our waterways.

I don't feel safe drinking any water that has a 'maximum acceptable number of fecal coliforms' along with detectable amounts of flushed street drugs, medical waste, runoff from gas stations, bars, and storm sewers. Add to that that many prescription drugs excrete in potencies near that of intake, including things like heart medicines, hormone replacement drugs, chemotherapy drugs and antibiotics. Many more can be converted back into biologically active forms by being exposed to the organic cocktail that is our 'sanitary sewer' system.

Anyone thirsty for a nice heroin/digitalis/roundup/gasoline/urine cocktail?

 

Shocking just how many people do not feel save drinking regulated water. Look at the growth of bottled water, home coolers and filtration systems.

Goverment is just as corruptible as anything else they are no guaranty of safty. We have the chairman of FNMA taking a home loan from his largest free market customer.

 

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Look up Skype, Magic Jack and Vonage. You will need high speed internet though!

 

I wholly agree with you, after all, look at the FDA overriding more restrictive and protective state legislature for food production.

 

"Born25YearsTooLate"-I agree with the basic idea of what you are saying.--What I'm referring to is "proper regulations".For example in the case of tap water,I want the most competent people regulating it,not a bunch of lazy losers.So government must regulate things like water(as one example of many),of course big businesses and other areas,but do it well.If they hire a private agency to do it,it MUST be the BEST company or whatever.AND I just originally mentioned water as one example of many.Again the US 'used to do it right.

 

And of course with that 2 TRILLION dollars or so that the US government already spent in Iraq,theres far less money available for important domestic issues,so they can't afford 'proper regulations anymore.But then again they can afford corporate welfare and welfare for the wealthy.

 

I've found, and while I'm a junior spaceman, and only 30, but still...

When regulations are taken out of the hands of those that know the business, and into the hands of people who can make money from them, they cease to regulate anything effectively, except the raising of money.

 

It would be nice to see marijuana use deregulated.

 

Absolutely.

About the only thing I'm really good at is growing things...lol

 

Deregulation (other than that of 'illegal substances') would only be a good thing if we could go back to revoking corporate charters. How I long for the day that I get to watch a live feed of a judge tearing Microsoft's charter to shreds... I'd feel required to make an animated gif, then use it as my wallpaper...

 

:smilielol5:I HATE WINDOWS!!!:smilielol5:

 

Ubuntu is the way to go... I mean, when it was xp, I could understand not switching to linux, especially before there was wine... But when you're stuck dealing with vista... Screw that. Switch to Ubuntu. They have the best customer service ever--- a huge community of forum users who will help you figure out how to do practically ANYTHING through Ubuntu. I just wish software companies would write more stuff to go directly on Linux, so people wouldn't have to use Wine.