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January 2010
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 The entire system is outdated and creates competitive distortions between companies.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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Author: Tom Giovanetti || Location: Lewisville, Texas, USA