Steven P. McNicoll wrote:
"Matthew S. Whiting" wrote in message
...

Yes, you would have some competition if each region was periodically bid
out, but certainly not perfect competition in the economics sense of the
word.



But that's the competition that forces private companies to achieve the
efficiencies touted by those that advocate privatization.



I agree that you need "perfect" competition to yield perfectly low
prices, but perfect competition rarely exists in the real world as it
requires consumers to have perfect knowledge of all alternate products
and their prices. A regional system is far from perfect, but it would
provide much more competition than exists now, but certainly far from
perfect competition.

It is also fairly well established now that a free market isn't the best
way to handle every good and service. I think there are services that
are better handled via a regulated monopoly, a government or other form
of distribution.


Matt