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by rectang 2307 days ago
That's the No True Scotsman Fallacy. The only absolutely "free" market is a state of nature, without laws and where might is right. Once you impose laws, it's not completely free.

The US telecom market could be more "free" than it is, but there are lots of options, none of which are perfectly "free".
3 comments
defnotashton2 2307 days ago
It's not a free market or anywhere near and implying such is dishonest. Coops would be everywhere if it wouldn't be for rediculous city, county, state and federal regulations. Not to mention the miles and miles of dark fiber all over the country held up in ownership litigation, not to mention the federal government created this problem in the first place by heavily subsidizing bell and continuing to do so.

The telco industry has always been a regulated monopolistic market and that is primarily caused and was created by regulation..

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maccam94 2307 days ago
One nitpick: AFAIK the issues at the city/county level come from service contracts that guarantee exclusivity in return for things like providing service to sparsely populated (unprofitable) areas and discounted rates for the poor/disabled/etc. You can argue that those deals shouldn't have been made, but then the local government would have been allocating public resources (running wires under streets, conduits, etc) in a way that excluded their disadvantaged constituents.

Anywho I am a proponent of Local Loop Unbundling. Limited conduit/pole space and complex webs of property easements make wired telecoms natural monopolies. Have the government own the conduits and fiber cables, and rent them to service providers instead.

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rectang 2307 days ago
> It's not a free market or anywhere near

Right, agreed.

> implying such is dishonest.

/me raises eyebrow.

Making utilities into something that consensus opinion would label a "free market" is incredibly difficult. Without regulation, you get monopolies. With regulation, you get monopolies.

Implying that a "free market" can solve the utility problem is (I won't say "dishonest" because I don't believe you're arguing in bad faith) facile.

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James_Henry 2307 days ago
Often the term "free market" is used when one means "competitive market" or perhaps an "open market" or a "market without market failure".

Also, for there to be a free market, there needs to be some sort of market which probably requires a sense of property rights. Whether property rights are in the "natural" state of things is an argument for the philosophers I suppose.

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MereInterest 2307 days ago
No, laws are what allow a market to remain free. Otherwise, you have monopolistic behavior, cartels, price fixing, etc.
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