Should we hand out free laptops and modems for welfare folks?
You think hangin' out on Facebook is gonna inspire them to get a job?
no, we don't give anyone laptops and neither do we give them cars. but we do give them roads to drive their purchased vehicles on.
Road construction and yearly upkeep is entirely funded by tax dollars and essential to survival.
trains and ships are far more necessary for transporting goods. roads are the inefficient product of a huge burden, the automobile.
That's the main problem with you kids today....that sickening sense of "entitlement".
The government owes you a job....a welfare cheque, a year of employment insurance if you quit your job, an education and now...internet access.
i believe unfortunate people and those who can't generate income should receive benefits at a small cost to everyone else so they have opportunity to improve themselves with less struggle. i guess you can call it entitlement but i expect to pay my share as i'm born into a well-off family. i must accept the the fact that others are ill and poor and require financial aid to get on their feet. it's simple insurance. public or private, dependency is necessary and inescapable for many.
that's the main problem with you older people. that sickening lack of compassion for others, who built the world around us. to act so independent and self sufficient is a complete joke. we're all mere building blocks in an economic sense.
to get back on topic, i don't see how telecommunications is not an important or essential service. how then do you justify the public postal system, founded in 1867? if public roads deliver our goods at a cost to the public, then so should our words. plenty of people drive on roads for pleasure but they aren't charged extra for driving to an amusement park. and while the internet is used for pornography and video games, it's also used to transfer funds, to deliver invoices, to learn, for social networking (a valuable service which does do good) or to remotely operate surgical robots. much of the internet is already so abundant in urban areas it's tough not finding a free connection. privatized internet creates scarcity out of something already quite abundant with existing infrastructure. corporations turn it into a luxury and that curbs progression and access.
the government should simply be a managing body for public assets. i'm not saying i'm owed anything. my suggestion is that we make the internet abundant and available for everyone, you and me included. it isn't even a matter of handouts to the poor. it's an inquiry to see if the incredible waste companies generate when managing this system makes financial sense.
on my street we have a canada post truck come by every day and deliver mail to our single mailbox. everyone has one. there is no need for two trucks owned by two companies to manage something as straightforward as delivery.
postal service is the number one analogy to public internet as it is a form of communication. one internet, one public provider.
i'm going to stop there because i am not entirely sure if you are epitomizing an ignorant free market conservative or are truly serious or 'trolling'.