On Tue, Oct 31, 2017 at 9:56 AM, Wols Lists <antli...@youngman.org.uk> wrote: > > The reason British Telecom made obscene profits for YEARS after they > privatised was because they inherited terrible infrastructure that cost > a lot of money just to keep going. >
A similar kind of system is the reason that Bell Labs made so many inventions back in the day. The phone company worked on a cost-plus model, so the more they spent on anything remotely telecom-related, the more money they made. So they just did everything they can to increase their costs. At least something good came out of it in that case. Modern businesses have gotten better at ensuring the graft goes to the executives and owners without the risk of too much public benefit trickling down, heaven forbid... -- Rich
