Reflections on the AT&T Cable Bill and the Wisconsin Sell Out

The comments from the supporters of the AT&T cable legislation that passed the Wisconsin Senate make it obvious they never intended to honestly discuss the issue.

All they say is that the bill will bring competition to Wisconsin.

They never acknowledged that we offered an alternative that AT&T endorsed* and that made competition even more viable.

They never acknowledged that they sold out Wisconsin when they could have supported the legislation that AT&T endorsed in Illinois.

There are three reasons they choose to ignore sound public policy:

• First they have no sense of history and no understanding of what it means to be a progressive, either from the Democratic side or the Republican side. Go back to the 1920's and 1930's and examine how electric power and telephones were extended to the most remote and rural parts of the United States.  That would be about 95% of this country. It was government regulation that required the utilities to provide service. The price that the utilities paid to serve the wealthiest and most economically viable parts of the country was to provide service to rest of the territory.
• That is why when the advocates of the cable bill say that everyone will benefit from the new competition, we know that their claims are false. Only the must lucrative areas will get service. This bill allows the cable companies to pick and choose where they will provide the new competitive service.
• Finally, there is the matter of what this bill cost. Literally. The Wisconsin legislators were bought cheap. When we see the final tally it will show that they took no more than a few hundred thousand dollars for their campaigns. They should have taken millions given what it was worth to the victors. Pikers. Every last one of them. Democrats just do not have enough experience in selling out, but they will get better with time.

*AT&T supported a bill in Illinois which was introduced as an amendment in the Wisconsin Senate.

Comments

[Ron Legro]

Wisconsin pioneered the idea that power utilities should be regulated, creating in 1907 the first nation's public utilities commission. Yet if the California energy market had not -- at just the opportune moment -- collapsed in 2001 under Enron's manipulations, Wisconsin legislators likely would have gone right ahead and passed a utility deregulation law similar to the California law that permitted the Enron profiteering. They were that close to undoing a century of sound public policy, all based on the ridiculous meme that the private markets work better when left unwatched.

And now we have: "The Wisconsin Legislature -- a Leisure Service of AT&T [TM]."

It's George ["doomed to repeat history"] Santayana time in Badger state politics. Fighting Bob is rolling over in his grave, and the mass of economically challenged consumers have no clue that their elected representatives have once again sold them down the Wisconsin River.

I recommend that citizens disgusted with the AT&T law simply refuse to do business with Big Media. It's nearly but not quite impossible to get phone service from a non-mega-telecom. High-speed Internet can be had for free from various hotspot providers and it's also possible to sign up at home with third party DSL or broadband providers such as Earthlink -- not a perfect solution, since these ISPs buy broadband carrriage wholesale from you-know-who. We can remain optimistic about the fact that more and more municipalities are considering public broadband service, despite legal threats from private ISPs.

As for video service: Just dump your subscription. Books and DVDs are great, and your tax-supported library is likely to have a free supply of good offerings. Also, bear in mind that with a HDTV receiver, viewers in medium to large cities are already able to pick among a dozen or two digital over-the-air channels. Obviously, many books and DVDs are, themselves, now products of Big Media. But at least by avoiding monthly video or Internet or phone service, you are putting some hurt on the bad guys.

The Legislature voted on its cash-hungry stomach. You should vote with your feet.

[Emily]

I thought you might get a kick out of Decker's most recent interview with Isthmus' Daily Page, and the fact that he may well have fibbed rather strongly in it.

The interview: http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=13631

Our follow-up: http://dane101.com/adventure/2007/11/14/russ_decker_s_fumbling_attempts_to_get_his_priorities_straight

Also, thanks for being a voice of reason in the debate over this ridiculous bill.