From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!cmcl2!lanl-a!ajc Newsgroups: net.politics Title: Socialism and the phone company Article-I.D.: lanl-a.229 Posted: Wed Feb 23 21:55:36 1983 Received: Thu Feb 24 02:29:27 1983 References: houti.214 It seems that no good debate pitting Socialism and Capitalism can ever proceed without reference to the *phone* company! The pro-capitalists are obligated to say, "without Capitalism we wouldn't have the *greatest* phone system in the world", and the pro-socialists in turn are obliged to point out that in (god-forbid) *Cuba* phone calls are free. Well, fellow netters, is the phone company efficent? *Is* it better than the phone companies in other countries? And most important of all, is the American phone company at bottom representative of Capitalism (because it is "owned" by its investors) *or* is it representative of Socialism (because it has been a government regulated industry)? Well??