Telstra (Roy Rodgers)

Thought the following was worth posting ... its the first reporting of the gov attack of Telstra I've come across that raises some concerns about the private property aspect of the policy.

Link

Ive got to admit I've never heard of the Brisbane Times, but I'll give em 10 points for bringing up an underlying issue that the rest of the pack seems to be ignoring.

I think there is a big story here about how far government will go to get what it wants without any form of compensation. Who's next after telstra ... are they going to break up any firm that holds 2/3 market share?

Granted it may make telco sense to break them up, and granted we may get more competition (although its worth noting that this does not necessarily mean well get cheaper prices). But what ever the reasoning, it should be abhorrent to all people and especially all economists that government would coerce a privately owned company through the threat of preferential treatment to divest itself of its privately owned assets. The whole thing smells more like Beijing than it does of Canberra.................... perhaps Canberra does smell like Beijing these days.