Abolish the FCC

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I disagree

When the interest of companies is primarily profit, consumers need an advocate. They're the ones paying. Sometimes they don't have a choice. Sometimes when they do have a choice there's collusion even when it's not obvious.

I don't agree. Would you say that customers need an advocate when buying computers, cars, corn, etc? Why can't customers just decide to buy a different product? Yes, in telecoms AT&T was a monopoly, but the FCC was the CAUSE of that dominance. Its policies essentially painted the outlines of a state-grant of monopoly power.

On the consumer protection front, the FCC fails. Even a reformed one that doesn't believe in controlling the markets through state-grant of monopoly is a poor substitute for letting consumers/sellers make their own decisions.

Corporations have a great deal of money and a strong interest in allocation of limited resources. Yes, courts can resolve these problems. But given the number of years necessary to resolve an intricate court case and the number of different decisions possible as the case works its way up the system, the courts are equivalent to no solution at all in the medium term.

When has big money NOT entered the picture? Why can't spectrum be allocated the same way that land (also a scarce resource) is allocated? Granted, it might take a bit of time to create a body of law (and consumer habits) in order to operate in such an environment, but that's more a relic of our reliance on the FCC to "manage" telecommunications markets. People in body casts don't always walk so well when first out of their confines, either.

I would say that the FCC has done more to stymie America's telecommunications market than any federal agency. It created a, dare I say, the most EUROPEAN market environment in America to date by building state protection for a national champion. We've paid, IMO, trillions over the decades in lost potential because of it.

Posted by: John Carroll   Posted on: 06/08/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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