I went to Verizon's site to check on this for my account. Here's what I got:

My Rewards+

SHARING ONLINE JUST GOT FASTER!

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Plus, military weaponry is just about the only US export still bringing in money. Civil wars or border disputes crop up, and the US companies get to sell to both sides. Of course, I'm sure State Department advisers would NEVER do anything to encourage those conflicts...

It's not that simple. This isn't adding cards and cables to an existing interconnect, it's installing a whole new one. In fact, Netflix will be co-locating servers with content either within or close to Verizon's data centers. So there is lots of logistics involved.

Chinese work has actually been pretty loose for a long time.

Close enough. Neither party is serious about their "stance" - it's all marketing.

Then they should be eliminated, or at least made more difficult to pass. WTH?

Well we already have the most progressive tax system in the world, but you're right, it needs to be flattened, and the vast majority of those deductions, exceptions, etc. NEED to be eliminated. There is a MAJOR issue with the complexity of the current tax code. This desperately needs fixing, and no one is even talking about it.

Exactly this.

No, not really. I know that's the prevalent leftists meme, but it really doesn't wash, and a Constitutional amendment to change free speech, and license journalists, and all the other statist ideas are just a way to protect incumbents and provide them more power to shut people up. Already the rules are quite onerous - I know, I tried doing the accounting for a VERY small disconnected political committee. It's a full-time job just to keep up with the reporting requirements, and it's often used as a tool to crush [real] grassroots opposition, because almost nobody can follow the rules to the letter, and the organization treasurer is personally and criminally liable for failing to deliver reports on time.

The 2-party duopoly is certainly an issue, as Washington warned about. It breaks the balance of power of the executive / legislative / judiciary, because they end up with more loyalty to party than to their branch. But the real issue is the break-down of the Republic, which is designed to vest the greatest authority in the people, then the local government, then state, then Federal which is supposed to have supremacy, but only in very limited, specific powers. State governments are much more responsive to their constituents, and local governments even more so. Unfortunately, the Feds are now exerting police powers (which they were never supposed to have at all), the bureaucracies are heavily armed (from the FBI to the USDA even down to the Department of Education), and the centralization of power is out of control.

Rule of law? Who at the Federal level does anything but laugh at such an idea - it's gone.

Yea, I did... the rebellion was put down by local law enforcement - Logan County deputies - the government.

So this just proves my point. Don't rely on government to protect you, they use violence as the means to their end.

And, let's face it, labor disputes are a really BAD example. Labor unions are certainly guilty of instigating violence in many instances, even today. And since the 1970's, they are almost impossible to prosecute when they do so.

Legally, the government does have a monopoly on violence. This is the principle of government almost everywhere in the world.

Unions have a history of violence as well. Never heard of the Haymarket Square Massacre of 1886? The Colorado labor war of 1903 and 1904? Most of the claims of employer violence against strikers were actually local police and militia called in. Today, violence by labor unions is cannot be prosecuted by our government, in spite of all the violence perpetrated by labor unions these days. How is that an improvement?

Rule of Law. It's worked before...

EVERY "referee" is subject to being influenced. And not by the "people", not when they claim more power than the people ever gave them. People have power in local government and in the market. That's how companies (without legal access to the use of force) are kept in check. Expecting 1 person to make decisions for 700,000 people will rarely mean those 700,000 will be treated equitably.

HA! If you knew any history, you would understand that the reason society is breaking down is because of unchecked government power. Corporations are subject to (and subjected to) swat raids just like everybody else. The only ones safe from that are the ones with ... hmmm... connections with government. Imagine that.

Yes. And with unchecked government power they are 1) required to petition government for the ability to operate at all, and 2) find government can provide them with safety from competition, assistance with lowering wages, and money from the treasury. All thanks to a government with too much authority.

No, sorry, but you're just repeating some pop statist talking points about libertarian ideas, you don't understand them at all, and can't even pretend to have tried to find out. Society breaks down under all kinds of governments, that's clear from history. The US was actually based on libertarian ideas from John Locke, and functioned quite well until the Federal government start breaking out of it's chains.

Also, the government is not my mom, and I am not a child. It's this attitude that government is some benevolent parent that has gotten us into this mess.