Typical Monopoly Behavior

[Hatha Sunahara]

If anyone has any doubt about why the USA is declining into something worse than a third world country, this should dispel any doubt:

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/aug/29/us-telecoms-fcc-block-high-speed-internet-chattanooga (http://http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/aug/29/us-telecoms-fcc-block-high-speed-internet-chattanooga)



US cable giants call on FCC to block cities' expansion of high-speed internet

USTelecom wants to block expansion of popular networks in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Wilson, North Carolina

How one city’s super-fast internet is driving a tech boom (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/30/chattanooga-gig-high-speed-internet-tech-boom)

The US cable industry called on the Federal Communications Commission on Friday to block two cities’ plans to expand high-speed internet services to their residents.

USTelecom, which represents cable giants Comcast, Time Warner and others, wants the FCC to block expansion of two popular municipally owned high speed internet networks, one in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the other in Wilson, North Carolina.

“The success of public broadband is a mixed record, with numerous examples of failures,” USTelecom said in a blog post. “With state taxpayers on the financial hook when a municipal broadband network goes under, it is entirely reasonable for state legislatures to be cautious in limiting or even prohibiting that activity.”

Chattanooga has the largest high-speed internet service in the US, offering customers access to speeds of 1 gigabit per second – about 50 times faster than the US average. The service, provided by municipally owned EPB, has sparked a tech boom in the city and attracted international attention. EPB is now petitioning the FCC to expand its territory. Comcast and others have previously sued unsuccessfully to stop EPB’s fibre optic roll out.

Wilson, a town of a little more than 49,000 people, launched Greenlight, its own service offering high speed internet, after complaints about the cost and quality of Time Warner cable’s service. Time Warner lobbied the North Carolina senate to outlaw the service and similar municipal efforts.

USTelecom claims the FCC has no legal standing over the proposed expansions and does not have the power to preempt the North Carolina and Tennessee statutes that would prevent them.

“States have adopted a wide range of legislative approaches on how much authority they give local governments to build, own and operate broadband networks. Some states require an election or public hearings before a public project can move forward. Others ask for competitive bids, and still others put restrictions on the terms of service so the public entities bear the same regulatory burdens as private service providers,” said USTelecom.

“States are well within their rights to impose these restrictions, given the potential impact on taxpayers if public projects are not carefully planned and weighed against existing private investment.”

In January this year, the FCC issued the “Gigabit City Challenge” calling on providers to offer gigabit service in at least one community in each state by 2015. The challenge has come amid intense lobbying from cable firms to stop municipal rivals and new competitors including Google from building and expanding high speed networks.

In a statement EPB said: “Communities should have the right – at the local level – to determine their broadband futures.
“The private sector didn’t want to serve everyone, but public power companies like EPB were established to make sure that everyone had access to this critical infrastructure. “

Click on the link and read about Chattanooga. And then think about your own internet service and how much you're paying, and how little you get for it. That's what I call 'typical monopoly behavior'. High prices, poor service, and no alternatives. And it's all supported by a corrupt legal system.


Hatha

[midnight rambler]

It's the 'murican way. You got a problem with capitalism? Then we'll just raise your rates while cutting the level of your service.

If you're unhappy with that feel free to call customer service where we will cheerfully give you a hearty "Fuck you very much!"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awV9PeX8eEA

[Ponce]

Like I said last year.......the US will be 10 times worse than what it is like in Cuba at this time.....you had more so that you will loose more, people will make it worse than what it really will be.....you must learn to live as one in order to survive...no way Jose.

V

[Hatha Sunahara]

It's the 'murican way. You got a problem with capitalism? Then we'll just raise your rates while cutting the level of your service.

We don't have capitalism anywhere on the planet. We have 'neoliberalism' which is an economic philosophy, coupled with 'neoconservatism' which is a political philosophy that supports a zionist world hegemony. And it all resides in a universe of corrupted institutions.

That's why I am hopeful. It takes an exponentially increasing energy input to hold together a corrupt system. At some point, the people who are trying to hold together the corruption they are benefiting from will lose access to sufficient energy to maintain their position. When that happens, it happens all at once everywhere. It'll be TSHTF moment, and all the rot will be swept away. All the delaying tactics are losing momentum. This attempt at artificially retarding the availability of powerful technology is just a reminder of how close we are to the fall of the high and mighty.


Hatha

[General of Darkness]

I'm not sure if I posted this or not, but my mother has a CD with US Bank that earns a 1/2 of a percent in interests. Shes initially set if up for one year, and it's been there 5 years and this February they set it up not an annual roll over but for 5 years now. They want a $3,500 penalty for removing the money, and when I asked for a copy of her signed contract they said we'd need a subpoena.

Question, since US Banks corporate office is not in CA and I consider this fraud, what recourse do I have, and can I sue civil i.e. bank manager etc?

[midnight rambler]

I know you already know this, but 1/2 of a percent is backing up. Assholes.

And a $3,500 penalty for withdrawing one's own assets...dayum. Talk about a pathological sense of entitlement.

Everything having to do with negotiable instruments is regulated by the Uniform Commercial Code which all 50 states ultimately adopted and 'codified' essentially VERBATIM into each respective state's statutes. The trick is to get those rat bastards to adhere to their own fucking code.

[steel_ag]

Fraud is hard to prove. What man and or woman did your mother wrong? 'Hey "Bob", Hey "Susie" are you trying to extort my mother? She wants her property NOW.' She could make a claim against a man and or woman in small claims court....

By the way, Gary North recently had an article about a bank that's offering 2.2% on their checking accounts...


I'm not sure if I posted this or not, but my mother has a CD with US Bank that earns a 1/2 of a percent in interests. Shes initially set if up for one year, and it's been there 5 years and this February they set it up not an annual roll over but for 5 years now. They want a $3,500 penalty for removing the money, and when I asked for a copy of her signed contract they said we'd need a subpoena.

Question, since US Banks corporate office is not in CA and I consider this fraud, what recourse do I have, and can I sue civil i.e. bank manager etc?

[Hatha Sunahara]

I'm trying to live up to a philosophy that I think would be effective in dealing with monopolies, and 'oligopolies' where there are few sellers, but more than one. And that philosophy is 'Don't do business with them.' I do my banking business with a credit union. I recently 'unbundled' my service with Comcast by dropping all service except internet. My latest bill was more than 50% lower than the previous one. I am just doing without their cable and nonexistent phone service. I had to buy a TV antenna, but so what? I feel better because the local free programming isn't any worse than what's on cable TV channels, and it costs nothing, and that's good because I don't watch it anyway. I wish I had an alternative source for gasoline, but the way I have gotten around that is by driving less. I can't do much about my electricity, gas and water suppliers, except use less. Which I do, but the bills keep going up because the companies that supply the utility service keep loading up their overhead and wasting huge amounts of money on questionable projects. I am convinced that utilities allover the US are corrupt, and believe they have the power to tax their customers a la income redistribution schemes through billing for services. And that brings me to the last of the monopolies I have to deal with--governments. They are all desperate for money, and I can see the day when they will send armed people to my house to rob me when I can no longer afford to pay them 'taxes'.



Hatha

[Carl]

They are not philosophies, they are ideologies, to include capitalism.


Difference Between Philosophy And Ideology (http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-philosophy-and-ideology/)

Philosophy vs Ideology

There are very fundamental differences between philosophy and ideology. Ideology refers to a set of beliefs, doctrines that back a certain social institution or a particular organization. Philosophy refers to looking at life in a pragmatic manner and attempting to understand why life is as it is and the principles governing behind it.

Ideology expresses dissatisfaction with the current state and aspires to be some future state whereas philosophy tries to understand the world in its current state. In other words, ideology is aimed at changing the world whereas philosophy is aimed at seeking the truth.

Ideology is rigid and once fixed on certain beliefs, refuses to change its stance irrespective of any change in the surrounding environment. Challenging an ideologue can be the most difficult task. A philosopher, on the other hand, may arrive on some construct for the basis of life and other things but will be willing to discuss and ponder other philosophies. A philosopher is open minded and willing to listen to criticism whereas an ideologue will refute anything challenging his or her ideology outright. This also suggests that while philosophy encourages people to think, ideology discourages any thinking that goes against the basic doctrines that govern the ideology.

The above definitions and differences clearly indicate that philosophy and ideology, if measured on a scale, would occupy two extreme ends of the scale. The purpose of any philosopher is to seek knowledge for the sake of wisdom and truth whereas an ideologue’s sole aim is to advocate and enforce his or her ideology wherever he can.

Philosophy is objective whereas an ideologue will always impose his or her ideology’s vision and discard anything against it. Philosophy requires structured thinking whereas ideology has lot of personal emotions in play.

Philosophy is neither harmful nor helpful as there is no advocacy behind it. On the other hand, an ideology can bring both harm and good to the society. This is because the set of doctrines that govern the ideology may always not serve universal interests and ideology demands advocacy and conversion of other beliefs and thoughts to that particular ideology in order to reign supreme. However, every ideology is born out of some philosophy.

In conclusion, here is a summary of differences between philosophy and ideology.

1.Philosophy refers to a pragmatic approach of looking and analyzing life. Ideology refers to a set of beliefs and rules belonging to a particular group or set of people

2.Philosophy aims at understand the world as it exists whereas ideology is born out of a vision for the future and aims at changing the current state to that particular vision

3.Philosophy is objective whereas ideology is dogmatic and refuses to participate in any discussion that does not agree with that ideology

4.Philosophy does not have as much impact as an ideology would have on the world ‘“ for ideology aims at spreading the beliefs and imposing them on the rest of the society irrespective of its relevance

5.All ideologies have some underlying philosophy but it is not vice versa.

Ideologies are political force.

[Hatha Sunahara]

Perhaps I should have used the word 'preference' rather than philosophy.

Do you really think I'm expressing an ideology, Carl? The ideology of 'boycotting monopolies'? It certainly has a lot of similarities to communism, or socialism, or zionism, doesn't it? Do you think I'm trying to recruit adherents to this ideology? Adherents would be people who would chastise others who deal with monopolies as engaging in politically incorrect behavior. My ambition would be to become the chief commissar of this ideology.

Do you think I am unwise to limit my business with monopolies? Or that I am just inept at expressing myself? I'm just trying to understand WTF is the point of your post?


Hatha

[Glass]

I'm not sure if I posted this or not, but my mother has a CD with US Bank that earns a 1/2 of a percent in interests. Shes initially set if up for one year, and it's been there 5 years and this February they set it up not an annual roll over but for 5 years now. They want a $3,500 penalty for removing the money, and when I asked for a copy of her signed contract they said we'd need a subpoena.

Question, since US Banks corporate office is not in CA and I consider this fraud, what recourse do I have, and can I sue civil i.e. bank manager etc?

Do they need a subpoena or do they need an "authority" like a power of atorney or something for them to provide the information to you specifically?

Yes first step is to identify who acted on the company's behalf by name and job title at X location . You will also need to locate them (get their address). You can use their work place or residence. John Smith doing business as Job Title for company Y at branch X. You would issue a written notice. Need to think how to target it.

Is there a letter trail from them or was it arbitrary act by them, no information and you found out by chance? Need to find the rules they broke in the commercial code or basic contract law and then notice them. Find the bit that says they have to answer the request with out a subpoena and call them on it.

I put my name address top right, then my reference # (make it up but I use Registered Post #), their name address next left, then date, then in center in bold under line I put Notice of What ever It Is. Doesn't have to be big.

Then date.
Sometimes I put Ref # here.

Dear so and so,
What I want or expect or need. Not rude. If I need to point out a rule or law or constitution clause I do. If it has a penalty value it might be worth mentioning. Depends what stage you are at. Asking or fighting. Asking first is best.

Response required by X days. 14 or 28. 28 is more polite. Time may dictate otherwise. Explain why.

Say if you don't get a response there could be a cost. Going back to penalties above. Most members of the public can bring commercial code stipulated claims against a company in their own name if they know how.

Alternatively you could say that none response is agreement by them in providing/transferring to you full executive power over the account concerned and that you can take any action in the stead/name of either party, your mom, or any agent of the bank. That should get a reaction. You might need to send a followup giving the impression you are going to act and enforce this power before they respond.

[osoab]

I think USTelecom is right, but for the wrong reasons. I think those that stand behind cities developing their own h.s.i. are ushering in the era of telescreens.

[Half Sense]

I am just doing without their cable and nonexistent phone service.

Look into Ooma if you want to run your own home phone service. VOIP using your net connection. The hardware is around $100 but the monthly fees are less than $3.

http://ooma.com/

[Hatha Sunahara]

Look into Ooma if you want to run your own home phone service. VOIP using your net connection. The hardware is around $100 but the monthly fees are less than $3.

http://ooma.com/

Thanks for the link. I have a subscription to VOIP phone service with voip.ms. It costs me about $8 a month. I got around the hardware need (for an Analog Telephone Adapter) by using my computer and free software. But the ATA makes it so you don't have to have your computer on all the time to receive calls. I use the VOIP service mostly to make outgoing calls.

Hatha

[mick silver]

you are caring for your mom right , how about talking with her doc and seeing if she was in a good state of mind when she sign the papers if she was not maybe you can undo what she did
I'm not sure if I posted this or not, but my mother has a CD with US Bank that earns a 1/2 of a percent in interests. Shes initially set if up for one year, and it's been there 5 years and this February they set it up not an annual roll over but for 5 years now. They want a $3,500 penalty for removing the money, and when I asked for a copy of her signed contract they said we'd need a subpoena.

Question, since US Banks corporate office is not in CA and I consider this fraud, what recourse do I have, and can I sue civil i.e. bank manager etc?