Fiber too, sure. And eventually LTE or whatever comes after LTE. Or maybe the government (OH NOES SOCIALILISM) lays the fiber, and charges access fees on a truly net-neutral basis to content providers. But the point is that you can't deregulate a market that has government-granted monopolies in it, you have to do away with the monopolies, one way or another.

Are we also going to expect analysts and/or managers to rewrite crappy reqs and specs on their own time?

They should've made it easier to "upgrade". AFAIK there is no way to actually upgrade - you have to back up, clean-install the OS, and reinstall everything. Who has the time?

Well, your better audio and guitar amps STILL use tubes.

Some of them do. Lots of top-notch audio equipment is all solid-state.

Only if they're all tube-based. If they have a transistorized front end, or power supply, then they'll be just as dead.

OK, then let's say 99.99% of people. I think it would be safe to say that 99.99% of people would agree that the government should catch and punish murderers, for instance. Similarly - rape, arson, willful destruction of property, etc. In summary - I would think that the overwhelming majority of people would agree that the government should enforce laws prohibiting crimes against persons, and actively investigate such crimes to bring their perpetrators to justice. Meanwhile, our government, which thinks it should do all kinds of other things, cannot even adequately fight crime and enforce the law. Maybe it should work on that before we talk about expanding its power and scope to anything like it is now.

If they die easily because of power fluctuations of levels that are perfectly common in residential buildings

Maybe the fluctuations you are experiencing are not "perfectly common". Myself, I have had to replace two CFLs in 9 years due to failure, but they were fairly early models.

Though I think that fixtures designed for the different light types is better than plugging in adapting bulbs.

Not sure what you mean by that...? I haven't run across light socket yet where I could not directly replace an incandescent with a CFL or LED...?

LEDs are better than either, though admittedly more expensive.

It was a great TV show, but I sure the hell wouldn't want to live there...

Let me clue you in - you have created a false dichotomy there. Those are not the only options in America. I have a college education, medical insurance I can afford, and no debt except the mortgage on my house. And I wasn't born rich, either - far from it.

And what if we don't all just agree to that? Why shouldn't creative, productive and capable people enjoy the fruits of their labors, instead of having them taken away and given to somebody else? Why should I be your beast of burden? Of course, we already know the answer to that - the proletariat is larger numerically, and so any democratic society inevitably trends toward socialism. God forbid anybody should try to get ahead.

As more things become automated, people will find new things to do. Unemployment didn't increase when we stopped making buggy whips, those people went to work making cars. As we develop new technologies, people will be needed to work in those new technologies, until they become sufficiently automated, by which time other technologies will be new. Eventually, we will need people to travel to and colonize new planets.

Personal experience, as well as what's reported in the news everyday, disagrees with what you are saying. Not the part about Muslims being more touchy about religion overall - they very well may be; I must admit I don't know many if any Muslims personally - but that trying to spread reason and science among other religions, especially (IMO) Christians, is "preaching to the choir". There are a lot of Christians in this country (the US, that is) that genuinely believe in creation mythology, who think the world is six thousand years old, who reject evolution, who think the myths of the New Testament (raising the dead, feeding the multitude, etc.) are real, etc. and who certainly would not engage in any serious discussion about the existence vs. non-existence of God. I still recall that girl in 8th grade who told me she'd pray for me 'cause I was going to Hell - and that was in New York, less than 100 miles from NYC - I can't imagine what it must be like growing up in certain other parts of the US, even today. Dawkins et al still have plenty of work to do, right here in the US.

Seriously? If you want better than minimum-standards misery, you go get get a friggin' job and earn more than the minimum. The minimum is there to ensure you don't starve to death during your job search.