Amy, RE: Hi GV, how were railroad tracks, public phone system, public works, and highways created?
Railroad tracks, all private enterprise. Although I'm not positive, I'm pretty sure that the phone system was private capital, too. Public works and highways, for the most part, were government funded. Note that the railroad was the primary reason that our country was able to vault ahead of the rest of the world in economic well being. Along the way, many railroads collapsed in bankruptcy, there were several cases of securities fraud, but in spite of that, a ton of capital was created.
No one wanted to invest in the phone system until the ROI was more guaranteed by way of limited providers.
I am pretty sure that is incorrect. As I said above, I am pretty sure that the phone system was created primarily from private capital. And note that if it weren't for MCI getting the government out of the way a couple of decades ago, the decline in long distance rates that we've been able to enjoy would have been put off for a long time. And the ROI for MCI was definitely not guaranteed.
Equity markets don't work for >3 year solutions
I would definitely disagree with that notion. Even if we ignore the bubble era, the equity markets have been an excellent place for risk capital. The biotech industry was funded primarily with equity capital, even though that industry has a very long payoff time.
But more power to any solution, consumer wireless or other, that can accelerate widescale broadband deployment to the home in an economically feasible way that meets the industry's technical requirements.
But if the government is funding another competitive project, it is quite possible that another solution might not happen. |
