"mostly" it IS the fault of the elephant
> >This is mostly because of the Republican party,
> Ahhhh....President Clinton signed the act into law, hon.
He was duped by the lobbyists working for the GOP into thinking that
the new Universal Service rules (part of the bill) would put the emerging information technology into the hands of those on the poor side of the digital divide.
And as I previously indicated, broadcasting jobs have been decimated by the
consolidation of ownership, and broadcasting itself has become a corporate commodity to be bought, traded and sold like pig futures with only the minimum required regard for the public, broadcast employees, or the quality of service.
see:
http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/{...665}/FALLOUT_FROM_THE_TELECOMM_ACT_5-9-05.PDF
"A public largely uninformed about the legislation, combined with
the intense lobbying of telecommunications interests both
contributed. Many elected officials of both parties also believed
that the public interest would be served by the competition they
expected from the revamped law. But as soon as it passed, the
same special interests that had applauded the law went to court
to dismantle the provisions they did not like, and appealed to
Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to relax the rules even more."
"... industries agreed to the terms of the Act and then went to court
to block them. By leaving regulatory discretion to the Federal Communications Commission, the Act gave the FCC the power to issue rules that often sabotaged the intent of Congress. Control of the House passed from Democrats to Republicans, more sympathetic to corporate arguments for deregulation.
And while corporate special interests all had a seat at the table when this bill was being negotiated, the public did not. Nor were average citizens even aware of this legislation’s great impact on how they got their entertainment and information, and whether it would foster or discourage diversity of
viewpoints and a marketplace of ideas, crucial to democratic discourse."
"Over ten years, the legislation was supposed to save consumers $550 billion, including $333 billion in lower long-distance rates, $32 billion in lower local phone rates, and $78 billion in lower cable bills. But most of those savings never materialized. Indeed, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who opposed the
legislation, noted in 2003: “From January 1996 to the present, the consumer price index has risen 17.4 percent ... Cable rates are up 47.2 percent. Local phone rates are up 23.2 percent.�"
<P ID="signature">______________
Electricity is really just organized lightning.
~George Carlin</P>
