[Martin Tell]

Americans were sick to death of AT&T's gouging them.

I agree that the breakup of the Bell System was the right thing, but I think you are overstating public opinion.

I lived during that time and I don't recall any great public outcry about phone service. Most people just didn't care. In fact when the MFJ was announced there was a good deal of talk that Ma Bell should not be broken up - along the lines of one of the posts here - "we are messing with the world's greatest phone system, blah, blah, blah."

Again, I don't agree with this proposition, but a lot of people did think that way.

Also, there is something to be said for the power of inertia. Everyone had known since birth "The Phone Company" and were comfortable with it. Sort of like the sentiment expressed in "The President's Analyst" (poster above). Presidents may come and go, but the power of The Phone Company was forever. Good thing it's gone now.

[Paleo Conservative]

In fact when the MFJ was announced there was a good deal of talk that Ma Bell should not be broken up - along the lines of one of the posts here - "we are messing with the world's greatest phone system, blah, blah, blah."

I remember talking to an elderly woman on a cruise in 1984, and those were her sentiments. Some of the biggest advocates of the breakup were Fortune 500 companies that wanted to be able to link their computer systems across the country. Ma Bell's stranglehold on telecommunications was holding back the expansion of those services.