There are public utilities in the US. And yes, they offer better service and lower costs than the competing private utilities.

I didn’t know about the benefits until I moved somewhere served by them. I think we would have more of them if people could see the benefits, but unfortunately the utilities you have access to are limited by where you live.

SO is rapidly fading into irrelevance, but we’re all still writing code anyways. Seems like the problem will solve itself.

Same. It is after all their own time they are wasting, so whatever. I get paid either way.

People have options, and it’s very easy to go somewhere else. If the food isn’t better the price and demand are going to be perfectly related. Every price hike matched by a corresponding drop in sales. Zero sum game.