]The issue is of principle. Should internet be freely provided by government.
My contention is anything run by government will lead to extra cost and possible corruption, as seen in PPE, Covid tests etc.
I agree that as a general rule, governments are the last bodies who should run anything. But there are some things that should be run by them for the public good since the private sector does as least as badly and often much worse in terms of costs and inefficiency.
Rail is the first and obvious one, since no private company has succeeded in running it anywhere in the world, breaking even and without going bankrupt.
Water is another, since it is so fundamantal to life so should no more be a means of profit making than charging for the air we breathe.
And for me the internet is included since communication is so fundamental to human life and the environmental benefits of everyone, regardless of their means, using the internet for every type of communication are overwhelming.
In a reply to someone else you mentioned being fair to business where taxation is concerned, but I see that as a very outdated view. Even Harold Wilson back in the 1960's saw that ultimately only business will pay all taxes when he forecast the age of leisure when machines do it all for us and none of us will earn to pay taxes.
Of course like all futurists he grossly overestimated our cleverness in assuming that would be by year 2000, probably at least a hundred years out, but that doesn't change the future.
Just look at how small a proportion of our lives are now spent in work compared to the distant past when we often worked from dawn to dusk from 10 years old or earlier to when we died. Now many only start work after university in their 20s and enjoy 20 years or more of retirement at the other end.
That means 40 years and often much more of being unable to pay any taxes while being a burden on the state paid for solely by business. So taxation fairness to business is already a long gone concept. One day you'll be paying it all.
The other indicator of the future is the increasing seriousness of the discussion about having a Universal Basic Income. We already have the Universal Basic Benefit and the income equivalent is the logical progression.
I don't see us ever able to never work, but I do see a future of so little human work necessary that it will be done by a form of national service for everyone, for example 5 years in the mid 20s, the years before in education for humanity's benefit, the maturer years after in leisure and personal research, all with state incomes for life.
So that is my position, anticipating the future and preparing for it now.
One thing could make me very wrong, the demands of climate change virtually halting our progress to that future
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