alister,
i think that you are over hyping the situation some, but nonethless
i agree "user-pays" systems do lead to a dichtomy of "the rich and the
poor". but.. in practical terms achieving services at a very cheap or free
way involves soemthing akin to communism (i personally dont think there is
anything wrong with communism apart from the fact that it just doesnt
work). providing free and/or very cheap services is normally akin to taking
money from the rich to pay for the poor (the money has to come from
somewhere), and the rich dont like to give up their money (hey who does?
and there is such a thing as greed). basically then the money needs to come
out of taxes, and we all love those dont we?
basically the net is growing at a very fast rate and the money needs to
come from somewhere to support it. judging what is the most "just" way
to pay for it is impossible at best... so the most likely substitute for
just will be efficiency... rough.. but thats life..
Matt
--Matthew Keenan Systems Programmer Information Technology Division University of Technology Sydney Australia
www: http://milliways.itd.uts.edu.au/~matt/ email: matt@nospam.uts.edu.au phone: +61 2 330 1390 "Don't murder a man who is about fax: +61 2 330 1999 to commit suicide." home: +61 2 416 5722 -- Machiavelli
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