Slashdot Mirror
Obama Picks Net Neutrality Backer As FCC Chief
Ripit writes "President Obama on Tuesday nominated Julius Genachowski as the nation's top telecommunications regulator, picking a campaign adviser who has divided his career between Washington, D.C., political jobs and working as an Internet executive.
Genachowski is likely to continue the Democratic push for more Net neutrality regulations, which are opposed by some conservatives and telecommunications providers. He was a top Obama technology adviser and aided in crafting a technology platform that supported Net neutrality rules."
>>>On the contrary, regulation is what keeps capitalism from destroying itself. Crises at the turn of the twentieth century and now, at the turn of the twenty-first, have confirmed this.
>
Regulation is what CREATED this crisis. The government used regulation (i.e. constantly lowering interest rates) to create a humongous bubble. If government had not done that, the housing/credit bubble would have burst back in 2000-1, and it would have been painful, but it would have only been a minor flooding not a tidal wave (in terms of impact).
The government makes the exact same mistake with forest management and rivers. They stop small fires, which would naturally burn-off excess brush, and it builds and builds and builds until there's a firestorm that literally turns the ground into glass. And nothing can grow there. Same with rivers. Damming blocks the river from flooding, which releases energy, so instead you have a river that roars through the levees at unbelievable speeds until finally it bursts with a tremendous force.
We need to stop acting like we can control things.
We need to let nature takes it course & release energy in small amounts,
else it will release the energy in one huge burst of destruction.
Yes this applies to markets, because they too follow natural rhythms. What would have been a minor recession in 2000-1 is now turning into a depression, because the government propped-up failing businesses with artificially-low rates. And now they are making the some foolish mistake with bailouts and stimulus money. Propping-up bad businesses. Enough is enough. Let those businesses die, so we can clear their carcasses out of the way, and get back to rebuilding.
Regulation is not the answer. Regulation is the cause.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
>>>The reason many areas in the US have broadband providers holding local monopolies is because running cable to homes is one of the most expensive undertakings you can make.
Bzzz. The reason most areas have monopolies is because the *government* GAVE them monopolies, and forbade any other company to enter the market. If that prohibition was lifted, other companies would be happy to move-in and start running networks in parallel.
But folks like Comcast carefully grease the pockets of Senators like Specter, to make sure the prohibition stays in place. It's a bought-and-paid-for monopoly via government, not a natural monopoly. Remove the prohibition, and competition would happen.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall