economics

Just read a crazy article trying to inflame people to be against network neutrality. Study: Google uses 21X more bandwidth than it pays for. The study essentially states that Google pays a lot less for its bandwidth than regular Internet users, and uses much more of it. The implication of the story is that because of Net Neutrality, Google isn't paying its fair share of the costs of the Internet, and the poor ISPs just want to be able to make the biggest companies pay more.

Let's dissect this a bit.

For a time, "economies of scale" meant that the key to success was making a business bigger, and focusing on nothing more than profit. Sell more products however you could, and cut costs as much as possible. This is no longer the case. We're entering a time when smaller businesses that solve real problems can be profitable, and the former behemoths are becoming dinosaurs.

The past

The assembly line was the key innovation of the auto industry, that famous invention of Henry Ford.

I just heard a Republican pundit on the radio talking about how Republicans are supposed to stand for individual efforts over taking care of others, and small government rather than large.