Congressmen Send Letters, Hope For Net Neutrality Fades

The odds of the FCC implementing net-neutrality rules just got much longer. "A bipartisan group of politicians on Monday told FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, in no uncertain terms, to abandon his plans to impose controversial new rules on broadband providers until the US Congress changes the law. Seventy-four House Democrats sent Genachowski ... a letter saying his ideas will 'jeopardize jobs' and 'should not be done without additional direction from Congress.' A separate letter from 37 Senate Republicans, also sent Monday, was more pointed. It accused Genachowski of pushing 'heavy-handed 19th century regulations' that are 'inconceivable' as well as illegal. ... [U]nless something unexpected happens, the fight over Net neutrality will shift a few blocks down Independence Avenue from the FCC to Capitol Hill. (In an editorial Monday, The Washington Post called for just that.)"

Comments

Re:The way I see it

[Darkness404]

We'd end up with a bunch of educated idiots unable to provide from themselves?

Welfare is decent for providing for people who truly cannot provide from themselves, but even at its current form, its prone to lots of abuses. Just ask anyone who has worked at a supermarket, you have quite a few people coming through, buying booze with cash and paying for groceries with food stamps while wearing designer clothing.

Public education ends up being detrimental to the poor also. Because education has become a "right" we have more and more people not trying or in education when they shouldn't pass, but due to our thinking in the US, still manage to. Because of this, a high school degree is more or less worthless. Putting that you have a high school diploma isn't going to attract any attention, considering you can simply ask most teachers for a passing grade and they will give it to you... all it has become is that you've sat through 13 years of classes. It is no longer a qualification.

Because of this, most people need post-high school education which can never be truly free. Yeah, you can get an online degree or a degree at a community college, but that is fast becoming like high school diplomas: a given. And most state or private universities are located where the cost of living is relatively high. Even if you get all of your tuition paid for, you still have the costs of living. Because of this, the paycheck-to-paycheck poor are discouraged from attending university unless they manage to get a full ride which is becoming harder and harder to get unless you are super-good at a sport and good at math/science/english and reading because the SAT/ACT is reported as a composite score, and because the tests are expensive, its more likely that someone better off financially can do better by taking it multiple times.

Spending more money in public education won't help the poor, it will only force them to pay for more education and end up increasing various deficits of the government because fewer people are working.

In short, spending money for welfare and public education are two of the worst things we can put our tax money at work for. We need to reduce government and taxes, not increase it.