1165
Musk Secretly Used Starlink to Foil Ukrainian Drone Attack on Russian Ships (www.thedailybeast.com)
submitted 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) by to c/ukraine@sopuli.xyz
240 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Original source: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/07/politics/elon-musk-biography-walter-isaacson-ukraine-starlink/index.html

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] -3 points 3 years ago (12 children)

Yeah, because the Federal Government is so good at efficiently running things

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 12 child comments
    •
  • [+] 6 points 3 years ago (3 children)
    [removed by mod]
  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Turns out, people get quite angry when the person they voted for doesn't win.

    Then, you end up with people wanting to change how democracy works.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 3 years ago

    The regulatory parts of the government that don't get gutted by the conservatives every couple years do better than the corporations. If the FDA and EPA were allowed to have their teeth back, things would be in a much better place overall. The trick is to strip out corporate interest and influence from government.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    Compared to capitalist corporations, unironically yes. It also has the distinct advantage of not being explicitly profit driven by design.

    The government might not be able to build Estonia-level broadband infrastructure to the whole country overnight, but put it in the hands of capitalists and you get Comcast, and I think I speak for all of us when I say fuck Comcast. Put it in the hands of government, even a local city government, and you get Chattanooga municipal gigabit on a publicly owned fiber network that's faster and cheaper than pretty much anything you can get anywhere else in the country. Imagine what the USPS could be if we'd given it an ISP division in 2006 instead of doing the IRL Postal Act of 2006.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago

    well spoken.

    A friend who used to work at DOE said there were 3 phases of power plant production. First, a government entity takes over the construction, and builds a system that will meet demand for 30 years, at the expense of the tax payers. Then, the infrastructure is sold to private corporations, who promise cheaper rates. The corporations ride the robust design for the full remainder of the 30 years, doing as little maintenance as possible. They then take the earnings and leave the debilitated system, which is picked up by a government entity, who begins doing the work necessary to build a system that will meet demand for 30 years, at the expense of tax payers....

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago (2 children)

    Notice that your example is local government and not federal. Once the Feds get involved, regulatory capture takes over.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago)

    Fair with regards to Chattanooga, and regulatory capture is certainly a problem to account for. But I also mentioned the United States Postal Service, whose existence demonstrates that it doesn't have to be that way.

    E: Also, I shouldn't neglect to mention that the entities that would carry out regulatory capture on the US government also tried and continue to try it with Chattanooga, and have been unsuccessful, which also demonstrates that it doesn't have to be that way.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent