How many phone services needed?

If WorldCom goes bankrupt, will we have enough telephone companies? Do we have the right number of supermarkets, fast food restaurants and hotels?

Neither you, nor I, nor anyone else knows, but the private enterprise market system sorts it out and gives us approximately what we need, where we need it. For each type of business, there is an optimum number of competitors given the size of the market and the economies of scale. A local fast-food outlet may require a few thousand or, perhaps, only a few hundred potential customers, whereas an automobile manufacturer needs tens of millions.

Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution specifically delegates Congress the power "To establish Post Offices and post Roads". Mr. Rahn has overlooked this fact.

The solution for reforming postal service is not to privatize USPS, but to transition it into an electronic delivery agency and leave physical delivery of items to private enterprise. When USPS becomes an e-mail only organization, the labor, transportation and facilities costs will be a miniscule fraction of their current budget - but it will still be able to perform necessary governmental functions like electronically delivering certified and registered letters.

There is no danger of a telecommunications monopoly given all of the competing technologies.

Unlike Microsoft, the Bells are real monopolies - that is totally obvious. FCC Chairman Michael Powell is doing everything in his power to eliminate competition against the Bell monopolies. Powell's answer to the question "how many phone services are required?" is "One" - and his mission to kill competition is the number one factor in our national economic problems. President Bush should dump Chairman Powell and appoint someone who will enforce policies to encourage telecom competition, not destroy it.

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