Hobbit
02-25-2007, 02:28 AM
This is a YouTube video of the excellent 20/20 special about the dismal state of our government schools. It features the quote, "Competition is not for human beings." Get comfortable, though. This is the whole episode, with only the commercials cut out. Running time: 40:45.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfRUMmTs0ZA
As for competition, let me put it this way. For decades, a government sponsored monopoly on phones eventually led to touch tone dialing. After about 23 years of competing phone companies, I can check my e-mail, book a vacation, trade stocks, and catch up on the news, not to mention make a really cheap phone call from a bathroom stall in the middle of nowhere on a device so compact, I could probably swallow it if I tried. And that's not even half of it. My phone takes messages (something made illegal under the old Bell system), tells me who's calling, allows me to make and take multiple calls at once, and even stores multiple phone numbers, addresses, and e-mail addresses for dozens of people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfRUMmTs0ZA
As for competition, let me put it this way. For decades, a government sponsored monopoly on phones eventually led to touch tone dialing. After about 23 years of competing phone companies, I can check my e-mail, book a vacation, trade stocks, and catch up on the news, not to mention make a really cheap phone call from a bathroom stall in the middle of nowhere on a device so compact, I could probably swallow it if I tried. And that's not even half of it. My phone takes messages (something made illegal under the old Bell system), tells me who's calling, allows me to make and take multiple calls at once, and even stores multiple phone numbers, addresses, and e-mail addresses for dozens of people.