Verizon ALREADY throttling Netflix, Amazon

[JDPriestly]

63. We need better antitrust laws, and we need to enforce the ones we have.

Verizon should be limited in its ability to control such a large vertical portion of the market. Companies should not be allowed to offer both cable and internet or both cable and phone or both cable and cell phone.

We buy our internet service from our cable company. We too have been noticing that Netflix is slower than it was a few weeks ago.

Personally, I think that if private companies are not going to compete fairly or are going to control our access to internet services so as to favor certain sites and disfavor others, we would be better off with just having a government controlled internet.

Fair competition is the advantage in capitalism for consumers. If companies gain a lot of control over, say the internet access services and use that to clobber their competition, then consumers are not getting the benefit from the competition that capitalism is supposed to provide. What is the use in capitalism if big companies squeeze their competition out of the marketplace?

This is something that the proponents of capitalism should be thinking about. Most Americans support the concept of capitalism. But is it capitalism when you have a product like bandwidth that is limited and companies use their control of it to force consumers to favor the company's products or services?

And if it isn't, then why not just have the government provide the product or service? The government might be more amenable to giving everyone the ability to buy what they want.

Who needs corporations and capitalism if the conglomerates use their money and power to control consumers' purchasing? I am really asking that question. I do not dislike capitalism, but if we don't really have the benefits of it anyway, what is the use?