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In the federal government, regulators are not directly accountable to the electorate. While an elected official must account at every election for their actions, typically regulators, such as FCC commissioners, are appointed by elected officials and hence do not answer directly to the people.
This simple fact may explain the FCC’s seeming determination to assert increased government control of the Internet, or at least the belief by pro-government control activists that the FCC deliver their agenda on a silver platter.
Years ago, the FCC determined broadband would be regulated as an “information service” rather than a “telecommunications service.” So, the FCC decided, and later the Supreme Court agreed, that broadband is not to be burdened with antiquated “common carrier” regulations, rules created in 1934 to impose heavy government control of the then monopoly telephone system. Read More...
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President Obama introduced his budget this week amid lots of calls for Republicans to support the president’s laundry list of new and expanded spending programs, along with a minimal spending freeze and some tax cuts.
For example, Politico cites White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer saying that Republicans “have a responsibility now to partner with the President, to try to get things done for the American people.”
In short, Pfeiffer wants Republicans to quit being the party of “no.”
But bipartisanship is only good when the proposed legislation is good. And frankly, most of the president’s proposals have been stinkers.
Take the administration’s proposal to try accused 9/11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in downtown New York City. Republicans opposed the plan, as did most of the public. Read More...
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While in Washington ideologues argue over whether there is adequate competition in the communications industry and dream up fanciful schemes to redesign the communications industry and dangerous plans to regulate the Internet, the states are moving ahead with modernizing their communications regulations to reflect the competitive reality that we see around us every day.
This week the story is Georgia, where the legislature is beginning the process of eliminating hidden and distortive subsidies in the rates paid by Peach State consumers.
Wisely, Georgia is planning to "bring access charges to parity," which means to eliminate the subsidies buried in inter-carrier compensation, or fees paid between different carriers to carry local and long-distance traffic. The entire system is outdated and creates competitive distortions between companies.
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Would the REAL Obama agenda please stand up!
On Monday morning the White House released a plan for:
- Doubling the Child and Dependant Care Tax Credit for families making under $85,000;
- Limiting student federal loan payments;
- Expanding tax credits to match retirement savings; and
- Expanding assistance to families caring for elderly relatives.
All of which cost money.
But by Monday evening, the New York Times reported that President Obama wants to freeze spending on many domestic programs for three years, then tie future program growth to the inflation rate.
Talk about trying to have it both ways. So which is it?
Is the economy so bad that we need new or expanded spending programs? Or was last year’s spending spree so massive and irresponsible that we have to freeze the budget?
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With insurmountable majorities in both Houses of Congress, Congressional Democrats had the votes to jam through any piece of legislation they liked. They didn’t need the support of Republicans, and they acted as if they didn’t even need the popular support of the American people. They had the votes.
Or so they thought. Massachusetts’ new Senator-elect Scott Brown says the biggest driver behind his remarkable election was the people’s disgust with “the way things are being done.” Voters are unhappy with a ruling majority that seems intent to pass an agenda without regard to the will and concerns of the people.
It’s not too big a stretch to see a parallel situation at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), where Democrat-appointed commissioners “have the votes” to jam through new federal regulatory control over the Internet through so-called “network neutrality” regulations.
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What Will the President Say in His State of the Union? The Institute for Policy Innovation’s Dr. Merrill Matthews says he has some explaining to do.
Washington is all atwitter over President Obama’s upcoming State of the Union address. And understandably so, because the president has some serious explaining to do, like:
- How he plans to get control of the $1.4 trillion federal deficit, more than three times the deficit Obama was so critical of under George Bush.
- And how he intends to pay for all the Democrats’ new federal spending. Yes, he could raise taxes, but he already has several new taxes in his health care bill.
- And maybe the president can explain why his much-boasted stimulus bill has had little impact on creating new jobs.
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 Fate of the Union |
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Something remarkable is going on in America.
I can’t quite explain it; I’m not sure anyone can. But we can use Democratic Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska to exemplify the change.
In order to “persuade”—some might say “payoff”—Nelson to vote for Senator Harry Reid’s health care reform bill, Reid agreed that the federal government would pay Nebraska’s portion of the increased Medicaid cost—forever.
Nelson can be forgiven for thinking his so-called “cornhusker kickback” would be hailed back home as a great achievement because, in the past, it would have been. Trying to maximize federal revenue is like a state hobby.
And Reid certainly thought Nebraska would approve. Why, he essentially called the other states a bunch of chumps for not getting their own kickback.
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Immigration—next to imitation—being the sincerest form of flattery, it’s no wonder new Census Bureau figures show Americans moving to Texas as fast as they can. They like what they see here.
The federal nose-counters say new Texans in 2008-09 numbered nearly half a million—18 percent of all the population growth in the country. Only Wyoming and Utah, with smaller populations, drew larger percentages of newcomers.
We’re not talking just about the foreign-born. Domestic migrants to Texas—from New York, California, wherever—outnumbered international border-crossers two to one.
How come? A good climate would be part of it, and we’re talking both weather and the business climate. Whereas the policies of many other states don’t exactly encourage hard work, savings and investment, Texas pours rewards on workers and entrepreneurs.
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[The following is an excerpt from IPI’s comments filed today with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to regulate the practices of Internet service providers (ISPs)]
The intent of Congress to increase competition and innovation in communications through the Telecom Act of 1996 is finally being realized. Congress intended to deregulate and thus invigorate the communications industry through competition and market forces—and it did just that.
The wisdom of this approach is obvious: The United States today has a vigorously competitive communications marketplace, and consumers have access to a tremendous array of products and services, and all of the research and rollout have been paid for through private risk capital at no cost to the taxpayers.
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Can Congress Force You to Buy Health Insurance? Dr. Merrill Matthews of the Institute for Policy Innovation says only by ignoring the Constitution.
The health care reform legislation in Congress requires every American to have health insurance or pay a significant fine. But where does the U.S. Constitution give Congress that power?
Cyber News Service posed the question, and Democrats seemed to fumble for an answer.
Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska is quoted as saying, “probably the same place that states have the authority to require, mandate if you will, compulsory auto liability insurance.” Claire McCaskill and some other Democrats agree.
Of course, state constitutions are completely independent documents and have no bearing on powers granted by the U.S. Constitution.
That document sets strict limits on federal power. Read More...
Limited Powers |
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Presidential elections are expensive—something liberals never tire of reminding us every four years when they push for some way to nationalize the cost of presidential elections.
Except, of course, in 2008. Liberals were remarkably quiet when then-candidate Barack Obama spent money like there was no tomorrow—$741 million, more than the Bush and Kerry campaigns combined in 2004—a mindset the president seems to have carried over into the presidency.
But as expensive as presidential campaigns can be, that’s only a fraction of the true cost taxpayers must pay after the candidate is elected.
And we are only now beginning to discover just how much the election of Barack H. Obama will cost. For example:
- There’s the president’s $3.5 trillion budget for 2010 that passed last April, by far the largest in history.
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When you watch a dog chasing its tail around and around in circles, the obvious question posed to the dog is “what are you going to do with it if you ever catch it?”
Well, politically liberal activist groups have been chasing their own tails for years, criticizing content and media companies for, well, just about everything they do, and of course all in the name of “protecting consumers.”
But in their latest attack, these activists have caught their own tails, and in the course of doing so have demonstrated that their real agenda is anything but innovation and consumer benefit.
The activists’ latest complaint is a new video service called TV Everywhere. Read More...
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Are You Looking for a Good-Paying Job? The Institute for Policy Innovation’s Dr. Merrill Matthews says you might try the government, it’s hiring and it pays very well.
USA Today reports that the number of federal employees making more than $100,000 a year is exploding. One in five now rakes in six-figure salaries.
In just 18 months:
- Defense Department workers making more than $150,000 grew from nearly 2,000 employees to more than 10,000.
- And the Transportation Department went from one person making $170,000 or more to 1,700 employees.
A government spokesperson says these are highly qualified people, and make less than the private sector. But federal employees also get much better benefits, all at taxpayers’ expense.
President Obama said he wanted to create a lot of high-paying jobs. Problem is, they’re all government jobs. Read More...
Government Jobs |
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Is It Time for Some Congressional New Year’s Resolutions? Dr. Merrill Matthews of the Institute for Policy Innovation says yes, before Congress bankrupts the country.
It’s time once again to encourage Congress to make some New Year’s resolutions.
First, with the national debt limit being pushed up to about $14 trillion and no end in sight, members of Congress must resolve to get federal spending under control.
The second resolution should be a commitment to more bipartisanship. This is the most partisan and polarized administration in recent history, barely able to get one or two Republicans to vote for a bill.
Third, Congress needs to be more transparent. Democrats are ramming through major legislation without letting Republicans or the public even see the bill, much less read it, until they’re ready to pass it.
Folks, this is no way to run a country. Read More...
Resolutions |
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What is the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution? The Institute for Policy Innovation’s Dr. Merrill Matthews says Washington may have forgotten.
The U.S. Constitution’s Tenth Amendment, which is part of the Bill of Rights, says that powers not given to the federal government belong to the states or the people.
So ask yourself, where does the Constitution give the federal government the power to:
- Mandate people have health insurance or pay a fine;
- Own and operate a major car company;
- Tell bank executives they have to take government money or else?
It doesn’t, and yet the federal government has done or wants to do all of that and more.
The Tenth Amendment expressly limits the power of the federal government. If Congress continues to ignore those limitations, then the public needs to impose its own limits—on the terms of those elected to Congress. Read More...
10th Amendment |
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While global leaders burn tons of carbon jetting off to meetings about how we can reduce our carbon output, back at home real work is getting done to protect the environment. Across the information technology economy a number of efforts are underway with a huge range of solutions to actually move toward a green economy.
In another irony, at the same time parts of Big Government are trying to seize control of greater portions of the economy using global warming as their foil, other government entities are discouraging technological advances that will preserve the environment.
AT&T recently released a paper entitled "SMART 2020: Enabling the Low Carbon Economy in the Information Age." The report listed any number of ways that technology could be deployed to improve energy efficiency and lower costs. For example, using the latest "TelePresence" teleconferencing technology, enabling telecommuting, or deploying a fully robust "smart grid"--all of these will Read More...
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President Obama keeps claiming he’s willing to “make the hard choices.”
But so far his administration has been characterized by a lack of said hard choices—except perhaps for his choice in dog breeds.
Congress finally got around to passing the 2009 fiscal budget in February, which should have been passed in the fall of 2008. The Democratic-led Congress preferred to wait for a Democratic president who would sign the fiscally irresponsible budget. That budget contained some 10,000 earmarks, which Obama campaigned against.
Did President Hard Choices send it back demanding a bill clean of earmarks? No, Obama signed it. And his press secretary defended the decision saying it was “last year’s business.”
How about the $787 billion stimulus bill, which was this year’s business? Did the president make any hard choices? Maybe, but only because he would have liked one even bigger.
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For years one activist organization after another has expressed concern about the “control” of the media. They slice and dice the markets to attempt to demonstrate all of the untold harm that will befall listeners or viewers if this, that or the other business is allowed to merge with or purchase control of another media entity. The wailing and gnashing of teeth has been heard from the FCC to the FTC to the Department of Justice.
These same meddlers were heard from when the barely solvent XM Satellite Radio sought to merge with Sirius Satellite Radio. The resulting entity still struggles to date, but as one with no evident harm to consumers. The same voices were heard opposing newspapers seeking to merge in an effort to put off rigor mortis. Read More...
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Want to Help Get the Country Back on Track? The Institute for Policy Innovation’s Dr. Merrill Matthews says it’s time for you to help.
Every day the Institute for Policy Innovation brings you, through these SoundBytes, timely and important information about the economy and public policy.
For more than 20 years IPI has been a leader in promoting limited government and economic policies that minimize taxes and maximize liberty.
In these challenging economic times, with record high deficits, trillion dollar spending programs, and an array of new taxes, IPI’s message is more important than ever.
But we need your help NOW to keep these satellite broadcasts on the air. Check our website at ipi.org. And make a tax-deductible donation to keep these commentaries coming.
Remember, friends, freedom is worth fighting—and paying—for. Read More...
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President Obama’s claim that health care costs are growing so fast that “doing nothing is not an option” would be a little more believable if he could point to a country that has been able to “bend the curve” on health care spending.
Health care reform advocates constantly remind us that all the other industrialized nations spend less that the U.S. on health care, both in the aggregate and on a per-person basis. But that’s not because those countries are more efficient. Most simply limit the amount of funds available to the system.
The problem with those arbitrary health care spending caps is that they are usually much lower than the economically desirable level. And so there is constant upward pressure to raise the cap.
Germany—one of the oft cited models for U.S. reform—is experiencing that pressure. Created by Bismarck in 1883, it’s the oldest publicly sponsored model.
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Author: Bartlett D. Cleland || Location: Lewisville, Texas, USA