Comcast 's (NASDAQ: CMCSA ) very existence is an insult to the idea of free
markets. After all, if my experience with the company is any indication of what
others experience, its prices have risen as its service quality has
deteriorated. My bill has risen from less than $100 a month to about $129 while
the frequency of its service outages and technical failures remains as high as
ever. And yet Comcast is enjoying very rapid growth. For example, in the first
six months of 2011, its revenues grew 41% helped by its January 2011
acquisition of 51% of NBC Universal while its net operating profit after tax
spiked 29%. I would like to think that such impressive operating performance
would result from providing better service quality. But when you have two
monopolies fighting for content, Internet and telephone service to your home,
you can negotiate pretty profitable deals with content suppliers and still force
locked-in subscribers to pay higher rates. This sounds like a recipe for
investment profit. But should you buy Comcast shares? Here are
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