this is disproven in one word: Microsoft.

there are others too. Standard oil, Mah bell. I suppose the consumer wants a billion different ways to screw you on a cell phone bill too.

Without regulation centralized corporate power squeezes millions of disorganized and powerless individuals for all they will bear in money AND consumer rights.

except the government is bound by a constitution, and subject to at least SOME form of public accountability.

OMG HYPERBOLE, obviously that means my point is invalid, and that people aren't really being stripped of their fundamental rights to privacy and choice, that theyre not being defrauded, that freedom of speech is not being abrogated.

No, I believe in the government stepping on corporate toes, and the the people stepping up to the ballot box to make sure the government doesn't go too far.

Let's ask the millions of jobless about which they'd rather have: ANY government beurocrat or the CEO's of AIG; shall we?

A lot of people seem to allow this to slip by, but the "free market" is composed of "actors", or PEOPLE.

When you remove law enforcement from an area people revert back to their "natural" state, robbing, pillaging, raping, and assaulting. For references, see looters in natural disasters, crime reports during blackouts, etc.

In the marketplace, without regulation, people with more power will perpetrate this in people with less.

People who provide internet services will abuse any way they can to gain more money, power, and control. (the same goes for software, medical insurance, mass media, commodities, you name it)

b) CRU emails - won't say much more, too much said about this already.

HAHA face is red.

you mean the emdails which were supposedly extracted from stolen data which cannot be confirmed? At best it's cherry picking, more likely it's merely fabricated.

Where were these hackers before cap and trade hit congress? How much were they paid under the table by the most egregious polluters in the US?

If you want to offer different and valid interpretations of data, or point out the possibility of selection bias, it's one thing, but you can't cite "conveniently unconfirmed" exceperts from data breached at a suspiciously convenient time to back your position and expect not to be called on it.

If the newspapers collude they can be brought to court under the sherman anti-trust act for cartel activity. They are not exempt.

What, exactly, is unreasonable about this observation? People are positively EXPLODING with blind, frothing rage over a fine-grained court case which has not even filtered to the supreme court. The headline is highly misleading, and it's an utter travesty the blurb made it to the front page of slashdot without editors toning down the utter partisan hackery.

I wish I had not spent my final mod point on that hilarious post a few hours ago..

This is one of the most insightful posts i've seen in a political thread in a very long time.

no, its not. If you were to remove the strict majority requirement from the US system it would pave the way for viable multi-party legislation and presidency. People could then feel comfortable voting for other parties knowing they would not have bureaucratic bodies deciding who is the president every single election.

The right wing has fought dirty in this manner for decades now. Finally a democratic administration manages to fumble the same boxing gloves onto their hands and you proclaim it heresy, as if it's something new and savage.

The right was the one which chose to go below the belt. The democrats tried to play it "honorably" for decades and continued to lose big. I still don't think they're doing nearly as good a job as republicans at playing dirty with political traps, fallacy, selective truth, and outright fabrication, but even standing up and saying "just wait one second!" is a start.

EXACTLY!

just add "HD" "Plasma" "Giga-" or some other pseudo-scifi or pseudo-consumer-tech jargon to ANYTHING and suddenly it's 'cool'!.

I think i know where the people responsible for "SYFY" are spending their spare time.

quick everyone, pass the "plasma" shake-weights!

no it wont, the exemption is NATIONAL, all it will do is make the price fixing and collusion NATIONAL, and we all know how very "competitive" the cell phone industry is.. theyre national and FAR less corrupt.

If you've studied your economics you'll understand that without government intervention, there are always large numbers of people who will go UNSERVED otherwise. This is fine for luxuries like television and vehicles, but NOT for freakin medical care.

no i don't. I don't get shit from the government. In order to qualify I need to either:
A - be over 65
B - have knocked someone up and made them spit out a kid

I don't qualify for either. I suppose you would suggest I do something as stupid as have a kid amidst the financial ruin my medical condition has wrought?

YOU LIVE IN A DREAM WORLD, and what's worse you're desperately, DESPERATELY trying to rationalize your inhumanity to your fellow american citizens and their need for medical care and your refusal to bear the inconvenience of a few dinners out a year in taxes... i mean "OH, EM, GEE.. you might have to HELP your fellow americans!!"

And.. apparently your "body" is made out of greenbacks..

My family are about 80% doctors. I can answer this for you. The majority of the "expenses" for R&D come from government funding, then these companies patent it and rake in dough at taxpayer expense.

My uncles in particular are particularly annoyed at the disingenuous claims pharma and medical device companies make about how "expensive" the R&D process is when the expense is on the backs of the taxpayers, not them.

You certainly live in a beautiful dream world.

each state in the union is utterly dominated by one or two insurance providers. These providers are also excluded from anti-trust laws, so they collude; you're essentially doing business with ONE firm under two names. It's like buying "broadband" in the US, only far far worse.

Pay out of pocket? do you REALLY want to go down this road? I have crohn's disease, can't buy coverage at any price, and have strained the collective finances of my entire extended family with medication that costs more per DOSE than most households pay in total monthly expenses.

Again, your dream world is wonderful, may I please have whatever souped up cocktail of opiates and hallucinogens you ingest hourly?