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I found the quote below in the Washington Post* about last week's software outage and see it as emblematic of many other systems, including the power grid, transportation, telecommunications, etc. You can also extend this to municipal services like garbage collection, policing, etc.  Everyone wants reliable services, but how do we get people to pay for them? 

 "This is global capitalism at work, and it's a fundamental economic effect of the internet we've built," said Bruce Schneier, a security technologist and fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. "We have a very brittle system where companies are rewarded for maximum profitability. And how do you do that? With monopolization, with having no inefficiencies, with running lean - and the thing about that is that it's really great as long as it works. But when it fails, it fails badly."

*) Largest IT outage in history expected to barely register in the economy by By Abha Bhattarai and Rachel Siegel

What a divide between the academy and the real world.  The recovery from the software outage shows just how resilient our internet we've built undeniably is.  And I should hope companies are rewarded for profitability, rather than the opposite.  If companies weren't profitable, then naturally government services would be severely curtailed owing to lack of tax income.  Nothing failed here, except socialism.  To help pay for reliable systems, how about capping the amount of debt publicly owned utilities can take on; that would require them to raise rates to more closely match the true cost of providing service.  People would divert some spending from new cars, clothing, paying others cook fancy food for them, and entertainment to things of more value:  clean water, reliable electricity, functional wastewater, well-maintained highways.

I found the quote below in the Washington Post* about last week's software outage and see it as emblematic of many other systems, including the power grid, transportation, telecommunications, etc. You can also extend this to municipal services like garbage collection, policing, etc.  Everyone wants reliable services, but how do we get people to pay for them? 

 "This is global capitalism at work, and it's a fundamental economic effect of the internet we've built," said Bruce Schneier, a security technologist and fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. "We have a very brittle system where companies are rewarded for maximum profitability. And how do you do that? With monopolization, with having no inefficiencies, with running lean - and the thing about that is that it's really great as long as it works. But when it fails, it fails badly."

*) Largest IT outage in history expected to barely register in the economy by By Abha Bhattarai and Rachel Siegel

Dudley:

How would your suggestion of capping borrowing power work? Would it require increased government regulation? Are you advocating more government involvement in the economy?

If put into place, reducing utility borrowing would require them to have cash on hand to pay large capital expenditures, so utilities would have to charge customers more than the cost of services for several years before service improvements instead of several years after improvements. It's not clear to me how that would increase infrastructure investments. Please explain.

Bill Mc

------------------------------
William McAnally Ph.D., P.E., BC.CE, BC.NE, F.ASCE
ENGINEER
Columbus MS

Original Message:
Sent: 07-29-2024 10:33 AM
From: Dudley McFadden
Subject: Everybody wants reliable systems but how to pay for them?

What a divide between the academy and the real world.  The recovery from the software outage shows just how resilient our internet we've built undeniably is.  And I should hope companies are rewarded for profitability, rather than the opposite.  If companies weren't profitable, then naturally government services would be severely curtailed owing to lack of tax income.  Nothing failed here, except socialism.  To help pay for reliable systems, how about capping the amount of debt publicly owned utilities can take on; that would require them to raise rates to more closely match the true cost of providing service.  People would divert some spending from new cars, clothing, paying others cook fancy food for them, and entertainment to things of more value:  clean water, reliable electricity, functional wastewater, well-maintained highways.

I found the quote below in the Washington Post* about last week's software outage and see it as emblematic of many other systems, including the power grid, transportation, telecommunications, etc. You can also extend this to municipal services like garbage collection, policing, etc.  Everyone wants reliable services, but how do we get people to pay for them? 

 "This is global capitalism at work, and it's a fundamental economic effect of the internet we've built," said Bruce Schneier, a security technologist and fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. "We have a very brittle system where companies are rewarded for maximum profitability. And how do you do that? With monopolization, with having no inefficiencies, with running lean - and the thing about that is that it's really great as long as it works. But when it fails, it fails badly."

*) Largest IT outage in history expected to barely register in the economy by By Abha Bhattarai and Rachel Siegel

I found the quote below in the Washington Post* about last week's software outage and see it as emblematic of many other systems, including the power grid, transportation, telecommunications, etc. You can also extend this to municipal services like garbage collection, policing, etc.  Everyone wants reliable services, but how do we get people to pay for them? 

 "This is global capitalism at work, and it's a fundamental economic effect of the internet we've built," said Bruce Schneier, a security technologist and fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. "We have a very brittle system where companies are rewarded for maximum profitability. And how do you do that? With monopolization, with having no inefficiencies, with running lean - and the thing about that is that it's really great as long as it works. But when it fails, it fails badly."

*) Largest IT outage in history expected to barely register in the economy by By Abha Bhattarai and Rachel Siegel

Our infrastructure has never been more fragile and corporate profits have never been higher, a real thinker... Costs aside, I think better enforcement of our existing anti-trust and anti-monopoly laws would contribute a lot to reducing the fragility of digital & other forms of infrastructure. 

I found the quote below in the Washington Post* about last week's software outage and see it as emblematic of many other systems, including the power grid, transportation, telecommunications, etc. You can also extend this to municipal services like garbage collection, policing, etc.  Everyone wants reliable services, but how do we get people to pay for them? 

 "This is global capitalism at work, and it's a fundamental economic effect of the internet we've built," said Bruce Schneier, a security technologist and fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. "We have a very brittle system where companies are rewarded for maximum profitability. And how do you do that? With monopolization, with having no inefficiencies, with running lean - and the thing about that is that it's really great as long as it works. But when it fails, it fails badly."

*) Largest IT outage in history expected to barely register in the economy by By Abha Bhattarai and Rachel Siegel

Our infrastructure has never been more fragile and corporate profits have never been higher, a real thinker... Costs aside, I think better enforcement of our existing anti-trust and anti-monopoly laws would contribute a lot to reducing the fragility of digital & other forms of infrastructure. 

I found the quote below in the Washington Post* about last week's software outage and see it as emblematic of many other systems, including the power grid, transportation, telecommunications, etc. You can also extend this to municipal services like garbage collection, policing, etc.  Everyone wants reliable services, but how do we get people to pay for them? 

 "This is global capitalism at work, and it's a fundamental economic effect of the internet we've built," said Bruce Schneier, a security technologist and fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. "We have a very brittle system where companies are rewarded for maximum profitability. And how do you do that? With monopolization, with having no inefficiencies, with running lean - and the thing about that is that it's really great as long as it works. But when it fails, it fails badly."

*) Largest IT outage in history expected to barely register in the economy by By Abha Bhattarai and Rachel Siegel