We all live our lives as we wish to live them, and realize that statistics are incredibly important to making the world a better, easier place to live in. Sure, they can be wrong sometimes, but I would imagine the general public trusts them a lot less than they should actually be trusted. I mean, global warming is like 99.99999% true, same with evolution, but we still have people who don't have a clue and doubt blatant facts because they don't understand things like the specific heat capacity of water, or that evolution isn't globs of crap off the ground suddenly turning into animals and people.

Sure, the numbers can sometimes be wrong, but they are not wrong 75% of the time. Not even 50% or 25%, but less. And yes, sometimes we are further off, but it is rare. Should we really ignore important numbers because their is a small chance they are wrong? I am not saying anyone should change everything about their lives due to a single number, but common, this is a bit crazy. I am not trying to be debatative here, just saying hey, it is what it is.

Tell you what... You think this is a brilliant way to make money? Open your own bank. It's actually legal (and relatively easy) in this country. It's a good time to open a small bank, too - people are sick of the big banks. Find a backer and let them know that there's this underserved banking market out there. I'm sure you'll find plenty of takers if the idea is a good one.

But, in general, the main reason a banking service isn't offered to you is because the service isn't profitable enough to offer it to the market you're part of.

[the murdoch media like to call this the coalition of the defeated but aslong as i get my electoral reform i don't give a shit]

Looks like what we really need then is a hanged Murdoch rather than a hanged Parliament. If you guys could take care of that, we in the US would be ever so grateful.

I would be perfectly happy letting a piece of software BE the government.

Vote 'Skynet' in the October elections!

But isn't that still to be tested? I don't think it should be called a hung parliament until they get to a point where legislation isn't being passed.

Why is coalition government called "risk"? It's quite common in continental Europe and in European Parliament too. What is the problem here?

However, no matter how poorly enforced, all corporate charters are contingent on their being in the public interest. In theory, it means any of then can be dis-incorporated at any time if as a whole they do more harm than good.

You're not playing Devil's Advocate. You're just a corporate shill, Republican wing-nut. That much is obvious.

Congress by its very nature is incompetent because they put politics ahead of principle. Case in point, look at taxation and the new health care reform. They're both disasters of epic proportions. In fact, I'm willing to bet the only portion of the bill they read is their own amended riders they put into them, not the bill itself.

And you guys want Congress to regulate the Internet? I can only see this going from bad to worse!

Yes, but corporations still can't act against the interests of the public. Try making dangerous products. In such cases, the corporation would be making money, their suppliers would be making money and 401(k) accounts would be making money, but it would be dwarfed by the long term costs from people would end up injured. Making money in the short term is not a justification for bad behavior in the least.

If Comcast thinks that its actions related to FCC v. Comcast and other unrelated behavior should have no bearing on its current attempt at acquiring NBC, I assure you that both the FCC and FTC will have something to say about that. Either agency can and potentially even object to or block the sale of NBC to Comcast.

This is a failure of Congress. What is needed is clear legislation from Congress that enumerate what exactly the FCC is allowed to regulate. Regulation should come from our elected officials, not from the policy statements of unelected commissions.

Easy decision for the FCC. Sorry Comcast, your purchase of NBC will harm consumers. No Deal.

in the slashdot world, there's only one 'monopoly law' and it says 'companies are not allowed to do anything i don't like'.