"Tom S." wrote in message
...

"Tarver Engineering" wrote in message
news

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Tom S." wrote in message
news
Wrong analogy.


No, that's the precise analogy.

Privatization for the Bells was the end of human Toll Call connection,
in
favor of automation. Now a collect call for 20 minutes costs less than
the
first minute of a direct dial toll call once did.

The Bell's were always private companies, but with legal monopolies. It
was
the introduction of COMPETITION, in the form of MCI (who essentially
started
it off) and other than drove the Bells to compete. They could not do it
with
labor intensive processes.

Payroll is where the money is.