The Hill News

The irony of America’s entrepreneurial spirit is that today’s innovator too often becomes tomorrow’s obstructionist, using litigation and political influence to protect themselves from the same competitive forces that first brought them success. A fight in today’s telecom industry is proving that to be as true in the information age as it was in the industrial age.

In the early 19th century, steamship companies revolutionized transportation. But less than half a century later they were using law suits and lobbying to block an emerging challenger â€" the railroad.  Ultimately a combination of market forces and government policy focused on mutual development supported the creation of an integrated network that propelled U.S. economic growth.

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