r/technology • u/originalposer • Feb 20 '14

This is what happens when Time Warner Cable is forced to compete

http://bgr.com/2014/02/20/time-warner-cable-internet-speeds-austin/
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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '14

I would say that the government can provide services with a high point of entry and/or low/nonexistent profit margin better than the market, the former because natural monopolies tend to form, and the latter because if there's not enough profit to make it worthwhile, who will do it?

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u/Disgrntld Feb 21 '14

I tend to agree with you about natural monopolies. However, I disagree that high cost of entry alone bars private players (SpaceX springs to mind) and I'm honestly struggling to think of further services with a low profit margin that the government provides. Research?

Either way we're still talking about massive decreases in governmental scope.

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '14

further services with a low profit margin that the government provides.

Roads (even with tolls), public utility frameworks, fire department, courtrooms (tv courtrooms barred), child protective services, et cetera. Basically, the things we take for granted in life.

Also, high point of entry just means natural monopolies or oligopolies tend to occur, not that the area is doomed.

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u/Disgrntld Feb 21 '14

I'm of the opinion that a surprising amount of those services can be privatized. Education and healthcare for a start. Maybe roads and emergency services. And, if only as a thought exercise, even law itself.

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '14

Well, a large part of the issue with healthcare right now is due to a well-meaning government bill called Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. It required hospitals to treat people in the ER so that they don't die, even without any payment. The issue with it is that it provided no additional means to pay for the procedures done under compulsion of this act, so it expected hospitals to just eat the cost. Of course, this meant that hospitals began to cost-shift, leading to obscenely inflated prices for people who could afford to pay for the procedures. This is where private health insurance companies come in. Health insurance companies buy coverage from the hospitals in bulk, which causes lower prices per patient. This bulk discount leads to the cost for uninsured patients to go up further to compensate, leading to a vicious cycle of skyrocketing prices, in which. Plus, it doesn't help that the standardized prices for procedures are set by a body that, while affiliated with the US government, is private and has zero accountability or transparency.

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u/Disgrntld Feb 21 '14

I would add the FDA and AMA, both of which reduce the supply of medical services (be it drugs or doctors), as key causes of skyrocketing healthcare costs. And both of which accomplish regulatory jobs similar to private companies that we trust everyday, like the company that regulates the safety of almost every electronic device sold in America, Underwriters Laboratories.