400 experts are having a good "conferency" time wasting taxpayer money on an event that has absolutely nothing to do with its proclaimed goals. I call this security drill a complete bullshit.

can only advise you all to read Lew Rockwell's Anti-environment manifesto http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/anti-enviro.html

evil

why the fuck should I be grateful for someone being a dairy farmer, my monetary votes for his produce are all the grace he needs

So government shields big businesses from competition in certain areas, enabling them to keep prices high and pocket amazing profits. Then the government steps in and forces the corporations to return the favor by giving free goodies to the public, thus winning government the popularity and votes. So it is in fact the population and consumers that pay for the broadband, but in indirect way, which is most likely more expensive than if they'd bear direct costs. This is another example of Bastiat's classic "What is seen and what is not seen".

yes - from the government. And where do you sir think does the government get its funds from?

in a free country, it should not bother you on what terms does subject A and subject B voluntarily agree upon. If this practice was aimed at artificially increasing the price of their products, the better for amd and its retail chain, since their competitive advantage would be much significant. Seriously - these anti-trust laws are pure fascism.

i have already provided an example above - america in 19th century. I can only be sorry, that you refuse to see it. It was the best place on the globe to be, even if you were poor. It was not lincoln or roosevelt that made the country great (i am not american btw), but the hard working people who were busy with their own enterprises trying to make a living and get rich at the same time and didn't have big government on their backs telling them what to do and claim half of their income and savings in taxes and inflation. And even an employment in a robber baron factory was voluntary, and if you didn't like it - you could start your own business and do whatever you like to earn yourself a living (starting a business was waaaay much easier those times). Or you could move to the west and claim some land, where you would be free of any opression.

In my country (a typical social-welfare state), we have strong pro-worker laws, minimum wage levels. Yet there is a large group of people, whose income is nominally much higher than it would be 100 years ago, but in real terms - all they can afford is food, clothing, housing bills and perhaps one vacation per year. You sure it's that much better now? Yes one can argument that they get free medical care and education now, but they could afford that all by themselves (in a laissez-faire system) should government not slash their salaries by 40% tax and subsequently tax all goods with 20% VAT.

But I have to admit, that I enjoyed debating with you. Time for some sleep now./P