Competition works, or why I HATE SOCIALISM

[pixelthis]

I/we have been on Comcast forever.
LATELY they have been stinking on ice. CABLE box is like something from
a third world country, etc. FEWER CHANNELS than anybody, keep promising
staples like "spike", "the weather channel" but they never deliver. NEVER WATCH
flix or AMC because they are SD!
Only thing decent is the internet, and thats overpriced.
But the price has dropped recently, to 29 bucks for 6 megs. The reason? ONE word...
UVERSE.
Oh, COMMIECAST can put out a lot of commercials about the "telephone" wires UVERSE
uses(blatant lies, as UVERSE uses fiber optic) but for what you pay you still
don't get what UVERSE or even Dish offers. FOR WHAT my cable costs now I could get
the top tier at UVERSE., and I AM THINKING BOUT IT.
But Comcast is sweating, something I thought I would never see. I am giving them a
little longer. COMPETITION WORKS.:1:

[SlumpBuster]

WOW cable has been eating Comcast's lunch here in Michigan and Indiana for the last decade. Literally everyone I know under the age of 40 or vaguely tech savvy has WOW. Competition works good.

[Woochifer]

But the price has dropped recently, to 29 bucks for 6 megs. The reason? ONE word...
UVERSE.

Is that a flat rate, or one of those promos where they give you the first 6 months for $29, and then double your rate afterwards while locking you into a two-year contract?


Oh, COMMIECAST can put out a lot of commercials about the "telephone" wires UVERSE
uses(blatant lies, as UVERSE uses fiber optic) but for what you pay you still
don't get what UVERSE or even Dish offers.

Well, actually it is true. UVerse only uses fiber optic to a neighborhood node. By definition, UVerse is actually a DSL service because it still uses convention copper wires from the node into your home. The only true end-to-end fiber optic service available to consumers is Verizon's FiOS, and that will cost you (if it's even available in your area).


FOR WHAT my cable costs now I could get
the top tier at UVERSE., and I AM THINKING BOUT IT.
But Comcast is sweating, something I thought I would never see. I am giving them a
little longer. COMPETITION WORKS.:1:

As I've posted before, check carefully into the HD picture quality, as UVerse TV has been known to cap the HD channel bandwidth. On the flip side, UVerse TV works great with SD channels because they don't downconvert the horizontal resolution like a lot of cable companies (and Dish and Directv) do.

[BadAssJazz]

Hate to be the wet blanket, but shouldn't this thread be titled, "Competition works, or WHY I HATE (NATURAL) MONOPOLIES"? I realize that socialism is the catch-all phrase for just about everything frowned upon in the present political environment, but there is hardly anything socialistic about the way that Comcast goes about its business.

[pixelthis]

Is that a flat rate, or one of those promos where they give you the first 6 months for $29, and then double your rate afterwards while locking you into a two-year contract?


nO, THATS THE RATE, and of course has nothing to do with ATT and their 14.00 wi-fi.
Been paying 43 a month, so how is this worse?


Well, actually it is true. UVerse only uses fiber optic to a neighborhood node. By definition, UVerse is actually a DSL service because it still uses convention copper wires from the node into your home. The only true end-to-end fiber optic service available to consumers is Verizon's FiOS, and that will cost you (if it's even available in your area).

THE comcast ad is still misleading, implying that old telephone wires are used point to point, while ignoring that their fiber optic is just to the node.



As I've posted before, check carefully into the HD picture quality, as UVerse TV has been known to cap the HD channel bandwidth. On the flip side, UVerse TV works great with SD channels because they don't downconvert the horizontal resolution like a lot of cable companies (and Dish and Directv) do.

When the thru-put is too much the HD cut is the first thing. USED to be a problem,
but not so much now. A friend says that his hasnt been cut yet, and if you're not a maniac
it shouldn't be.
AGAIN, the UVERSE top tier is 129 a month, even if HD gets cut every so often, that is still every premium (well, most) known to man.
With Comcast we are getting SD Encore(which is of course never watched, and only good for ENCORE ON DEMAND hd) and a bunch of other stuff no one with a life would ever watch. Oh, and promises, a lot of broken promises. More than your average crackhead
looking for a rock.:1:

[Poultrygeist]

If you attended public schools in the US and received a good education you have Socialism to thank.

[pixelthis]

If you attended public schools in the US and received a good education you have Socialism to thank.

THE ONLY people that attend "public school" in America are the ones that cant afford
private school. My niece told me they watched Spiderman during one class.
Know what the average is in Wisconsin for a teacher? SIXTY SIX THOU, plus
benefits. And how will they "teach" anybody when they are too stupid to do simple math,
or read the writing on the wall.
I TOOK A VOCATIONAL "class" half a day in high school, learned how to "fix" a TV
right before they became too cheap to bother.
YEP, socialized schools are about what you can expect from a collectivized system.
I only pray that "socialized" medicine is stopped before I NEED IT .:1:

[Woochifer]

THE ONLY people that attend "public school" in America are the ones that cant afford
private school.

Gosh, I didn't know that my parents couldn't afford to send me to a private school, and that I can't afford one for my daughter either. Yeah, my parents just didn't have a choice, and neither do I, right?

And I guess that explains why all those parents are clamoring to send their kids to Lowell HS in San Francisco -- they just can't afford it. Has nothing to do with that public school having the highest four-year university attendance of any HS in the nation (privates included). Yeah, they would send their kids to a private school with lower academic achievement, IF ONLY THEY COULD AFFORD THE PRIVILEGE!


And how will they "teach" anybody when they are too stupid to do simple math,
or read the writing on the wall.

Hmmm, my math teachers that taught me trigonometry, advanced algebra, calculus, and geometry, don't know squat about simple math? I'll let them know.

I'll also let my AP English teacher know that just because he earned teaching awards for creative writing and essay composition, he still can't read stuff written on walls.

[kexodusc]

Son and brother of servicemen and women, I went to public schools. The Armed Forces is about the most socialist institution in the USA though so I guess that was to be expected.

[BadAssJazz]

Also public school educated:

public elementary school
public middle school
public high school
public University (of California, Berkeley)
public grad school (UCLA)

I'm not saying that public schools aren't sorely in need of better accountability -- from administrators, to parents, to students -- but they aren't the great evil that everyone portrays them to be. No, the great evil would be nationwide illiteracy, ignorance and idiocy of the uneducated, unenlightened and misinformed. No democracy is ever safe when the vast portion of its constituency lacks an empirical, foundational core education.Various belief systems masquerading as fact tend to spring up when that happens, which isn't a good thing.

[pixelthis]

So entertaining to watch these left coast types try and defend one of the most mediocre
institutions in America, and the world, in fact.
BEFORE "PUBLIC" EDUCATION WAS FORCED ON THE PUBLIC America primarily
had a system of private schooling that most agree was vastly superior to the
bureaucratic infested monster that replaced it .
WHEN are you socialist types gonna learn? NOTHING is done better by the government
than the private sector.Ever.:1:

[BadAssJazz]

So entertaining to watch these left coast types try and defend one of the most mediocre
institutions in America, and the world, in fact.
BEFORE "PUBLIC" EDUCATION WAS FORCED ON THE PUBLIC America primarily
had a system of private schooling that most agree was vastly superior to the
bureaucratic infested monster that replaced it .
WHEN are you socialist types gonna learn? NOTHING is done better by the government
than the private sector.Ever.:1:


Curious.

In a previous post, you posited (I'm paraphrasing here) that the only kids who go to public schools are those that cannot afford a private school. In the above quote you hammer the point home by saying that a system of private schooling is the ideal system. (Again, paraphrasing.)

So I guess my question to you is if the public school system was done away with, what becomes of the children in every community who cannot afford private schooling? And given that you tend to see public policy as purely homogenous precept (as opposed to a blending of idealogies), let's assume that no tax dollars whatsoever are used to supplement your model institution, as is the case with the prison system, which is also, in many states, run by the private sector, albeit with some assistance from tax dollars. Curious to know your solution.

[Woochifer]

So entertaining to watch these left coast types try and defend one of the most mediocre
institutions in America, and the world, in fact.
BEFORE "PUBLIC" EDUCATION WAS FORCED ON THE PUBLIC America primarily
had a system of private schooling that most agree was vastly superior to the
bureaucratic infested monster that replaced it .

Actually, it's more amusing to see someone from the one of the lowest educated states in America longing for the good ole days when only the privileged few had access to school education.


WHEN are you socialist types gonna learn? NOTHING is done better by the government
than the private sector.Ever.:1:

And again, if private is always better than public, then how do you explain public high schools like Lowell, Mission San Jose, Troy, University, Torrey Pines, Whitney, El Camino, Gunn, et al that routinely outperform the competing private schools in their respective regions? Always a good laugh to see the ideological knots that "libertarian" purists get themselves into when the real world intrudes.

[bobsticks]

So entertaining to watch these left coast types try and defend one of the most mediocre
institutions in America, and the world, in fact.
BEFORE "PUBLIC" EDUCATION WAS FORCED ON THE PUBLIC America primarily
had a system of private schooling that most agree was vastly superior to the
bureaucratic infested monster that replaced it .
WHEN are you socialist types gonna learn? NOTHING is done better by the government
than the private sector.Ever.:1:

We have seen that information expansion does not necessarily mean knowledge expansion but the challenges therein are clearly beyond the scope of small, private academies from a long ago time that is no longer relevant. That there are issues with public schooling cannot be questioned but the answers more likely lie in dealing with unfair tenure practices, difficulty in recruitment and inequities in funding...none of which would be resolved by large-scale privatization of education.

Valid opinions are based in contextual reality, Pix. Try not to appear the arbiter of an activity in which you are so clearly incapable of accomplishment.

[Feanor]

So entertaining to watch these left coast types try and defend one of the most mediocre
institutions in America, and the world, in fact.
BEFORE "PUBLIC" EDUCATION WAS FORCED ON THE PUBLIC America primarily
had a system of private schooling that most agree was vastly superior to the
bureaucratic infested monster that replaced it .
WHEN are you socialist types gonna learn? NOTHING is done better by the government
than the private sector.Ever.:1:
You're a total ass, Pix.

I suppose the very best schooling, like the very best healthcare, down there in the US is private. But private schools (and healthcare) vary greatly in quality and the aforementioned "very best" is only affordable by the very rich, (which leaves you out, Pix, methinks).

Speaking of competition, (a thing you love so well, right?), average Americans are facing more of it these days in the global economy. They need all the help they can get but that help isn't going to come from the private sector. The rich don't give a gawddamn about the average American. Right they are either sitting on their cash or they're scrambling to invest it off-shore in countries where workers earn 5¢ on the dollar vs. Americans. The private sector has decide that the US economy -- certainly parts of it like manufacturing that used to sustain average Americans -- isn't profitable anymore.

The Bush-era tax cuts to the top 2% ought to have ended and the money been spent on education to keep American workers compete and as also to kick-start green energy production to free the US from reliance on foreign oil. But stupid, average Americans like you, Pix, have decided to use the money to bribe the rich. Unfortunately they have plans for that money that don't include you.

[Woochifer]

I suppose the very best schooling, like the very best healthcare, down there in the US is private. But private schools (and healthcare) vary greatly in quality and the aforementioned "very best" is only affordable by the very rich, (which leaves you out, Pix, methinks).

And let's not forget that private schools can exclude whoever they want, and they can recruit high performing students from a wide area. Most public schools only serve the students that live in the surrounding neighborhoods.

Lowell HS in San Francisco is an exception in that it has a selective admission policy. But, so do all of the private schools in the city, and this puts them on a level playing field. On that level playing field, the public school outperforms the privates. The other schools on my list are regular neighborhood schools with fixed attendance areas -- they have to serve everybody. Yet, their students also have higher academic achievement than the private schools in their areas.

[Hyfi]

Funny thread for sure.

I can remember walking to my poor public grade school each morning. The path we took, had us walk through the schoolyard of the neighborhood Catholic School.


We laughed daily because those suckers had to be in an hour earlier than the public school kids so they could all sit there and pray out loud together.

All that money spent so they could pray that their education was better than mine.
My high school was a different story. I lived in a decent hood but traveled by bus, train, then foot to one of the worst hoods in philly because I wanted to learn a trade. Between the drug addicts, kids with one parent and all the rest, the teachers did have a hard time of it. What I figured out early on was that you needed to apply yourself if you wanted a good education. If you go to an expensive private school, and don't apply yourself, your education won't be any better than a cheaper one.

Then at the end of the day, when the public school let out and we all just walked home on our own, each class in the Catholic school had to be walked several blocks from the school by their teacher before they were let loose to be the undisciplined animals that they were. The public school kids already knew how to behave themselves and were able to walk home without causing trouble from being to pent up and controlled all day.

[Woochifer]

We laughed daily because those suckers had to be in an hour earlier than the public school kids so they could all sit there and pray out loud together.

All that money spent so they could pray that their education was better than mine.
My high school was a different story. I lived in a decent hood but traveled by bus, train, then foot to one of the worst hoods in philly because I wanted to learn a trade. Between the drug addicts, kids with one parent and all the rest, the teachers did have a hard time of it. What I figured out early on was that you needed to apply yourself if you wanted a good education. If you go to an expensive private school, and don't apply yourself, your education won't be any better than a cheaper one.

Exactly. I work with local schools for college recruitment and scholarship interviewing, and no matter how bad the conditions are, there's always going to be a group that rises above their circumstances. It's those students that deserve an opportunity to prove themselves in a more conducive college environment.

Private schools can remove many of the distractions you find in more disadvantaged school districts, and do more self-selection with the student body, but that doesn't mean that the quality of education is by definition better.

My wife went to private schools out of state, and when she came out to California to go to college, she felt somewhat at a disadvantage because so many of her classmates from Cali public schools had gone through a much more rigorous AP/honors curriculum. And much of that is driven by the stringent course requirements for admission to the University of California system. The average freshman at UC Berkeley and UCLA takes more than 20 semesters of AP-level coursework, and that trickles out to students going to other colleges as well.


Then at the end of the day, when the public school let out and we all just walked home on our own, each class in the Catholic school had to be walked several blocks from the school by their teacher before they were let loose to be the undisciplined animals that they were. The public school kids already knew how to behave themselves and were able to walk home without causing trouble from being to pent up and controlled all day.

Oh, I remember some of the Catholic school students when I was in college! For some of them, it really was like turning a caged animal loose.