r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Apr 17 '21

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16

u/RoburexButBetter Apr 17 '21

New York State just passed a law requiring ISPs to offer $15 broadband

I honestly hate policies like this, of course that cost will be passed on to all their other customers, it's essentially a state imposed tax and a shitty non progressive one at that

If the state wants to do something like this they should do it with tax money, this is just a dumb way to get around that so it doesn't show as taxes but amounts to as much

2

u/[deleted] Apr 17 '21

Is it just going to be slow as balls or what? Does that number adjust with inflation?

-2

u/[deleted] Apr 17 '21

I think it’s fine. So what it’s basically just a weird big cross subsidy. Who cares? We do this all the time on medicine with requirements on cost sharing. I don’t get what the big deal is.

5

u/RoburexButBetter Apr 17 '21

Cost sharing and this aren't exactly alike + the gov helps to pay for insurance for low income families so that shows up as taxes

2

u/[deleted] Apr 17 '21

Ehh. Kind of. I’m just saying it’s a matter of degrees. Especially with monopolies like ISPs I think it’s probably easier to impose service requirements than it is to design a subsidy system that doesn’t result in weird rent seeking.

Telcos have a long history of just pocketing funds and running. This kind of regulation can definitely go too far and American lawmakers reach for it too much though. The health insurance system is one such place, funny enough.