Paul Soglin: Waxing America

America Now a Banana Republic - Slate via New York Times via Business Insider

Before reading further, understand that the orginal article is Timothy Noah's The United States of Inequality: Introducing the Great Divergence   in SLATE.

His work was picked up by the New York Times which led to the headline cerated by Business Insider,   reporting IT'S OFFICIAL: America Is Now A Banana Republic

One of the hallmarks of banana republics, says the NYT's Nicholas Kristof, is income inequality. In some countries, the wealthiest 1% of the population takes home 20% or more of the national income.

And now the same is true in America:

The richest 1 percent of Americans now take home almost 24 percent of income, up from almost 9 percent in 1976. As Timothy Noah of Slate noted in an excellent series on inequality, the United States now arguably has a more unequal distribution of wealth than traditional banana republics like Nicaragua, Venezuela and Guyana.

I am not sure which is worse, Republicans who made it happen, or Democrats who refused to stop it and aquiesced.  Thus the heading for this blog:

A candid examination of right-wing policies and the Democrats who play along and the horrid liberal policies designed to assuage the moderates but end up irritating everyone. And other stuff.

This is not other stuff.

 

 

 

More GOP Dancing In The End Zone Before The Game Is Over

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas A&M) has already declared he's got the Chairmanship of Energy and Commerce locked up:

Barton, the top GOP member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, suggested that he fully intends to push a bid to become chairman of that committee, despite rules and colleagues' concerns that could threaten his ability to take that post. Barton's apology to BP CEO Tony Hayward over the summer was a gaffe that troubled many members of Barton's own party.

Joe Barton chairing Energy and Commerce again?  We might as well have W. back in the White House.  Be afraid. Be very afraid. And GOTV Tuesday. Survival of the whole goddamn planet depends on it.

- Barry Orton

Tammy Baldwin To Receive Jane Lawton Award From NATOA

I'm really pleased about this: next month Rep. Tammy Baldwin will receive the Jane E Lawton Commemorative Award from the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA). NATOA presents the award annually to an elected official to recognize extraordinary service on behalf of local governments and communities throughout the United States.  It was created in memory of the Honorable Jane E. Lawton, who served as Mayor of Chevy Chase, MD; Delegate to the Maryland State House; and President of NATOA. 

NATOA selected Baldwin for her continued support for local government in communications, most notably the introduction of the Community Access Preservation Act (H.R. 3745). 

- Barry Orton

Why the Comcast-NBCU Merger Matters

Susan Crawford's blog has the reasons:

AT&T/TCI, 1999, SBC/Ameritech, 1999, Bell Atlantic/GTE, 1999, AT&T/MediaOne, 2000, AT&T/Comcast, 2002, Sprint/Nextel, 2005, SBC/AT&T, 2005, Adelphia, 2006, AT&T/BellSouth, 2007

And now, Comcast/NBCU.

Three thoughts prompted by that list.  First, there’s been enormous consolidation in the market for high-speed Internet access services.  All those mergers.  The most recent figures from the FCC, released in February of this year, show that when it comes to local access at or above 3 Mbps most Americans have a choice of at most two providers - a duopoly.

What’s really interesting, though, is the second thing the list should make you think about.  When it comes to access at higher than 6 Mbps speeds, cable is clearly in charge.  Over 96% of that market is cable’s - and the big players don’t compete with one another.  Those are the speeds you need to watch video.

And that’s why the relative size of the merger isn’t all that relevant.  What’s relevant is the market power that Comcast has in particular regions to provide what is rapidly becoming a single fast pipe to the home.  Over that pipe, the cable industry’s view is that Internet access can take up a few channels but that the rest of the pipe belongs to them.  And they have every interest in ensuring that alternative video marketplaces online don’t take off.

...No one has ever seen a lobbying campaign to equal this one.  That’s the third thought prompted by the picture:  those other guys were pikers compared to Comcast.

It looks like Comcast-NBCU is a done deal. Too bad.

- Barry Orton

Save Madison's City Channel!

Rookie Wisconsin State Journal columnist Chris Rickert hit a home run Wednesday with this column on the Madison City Channel. Facing a severe shortfall due to the phasing out of dedicated funding from cable television providers by the state's wrong-headed 2007 "cable competition bill,"  the City Channel could find its staff and resources severely diminished in next year's Madison budget. (Disclosure: for the last six months, I served on the Madison City Channel Ad Hoc Advisory Committee, which explored ways to address the shortfall, and recommended ways to mitigate its impacts.)

Rickert:

...paying attention to local government is kind of like voting. There's no valid argument for not doing it, but that doesn't mean people always do.

I have some confidence that Madisonians are a more civic-minded lot. Prove me right and show the City Channel some love: Tell your alderperson to fund it.

Coincidentally, Brenda Konkel posted a teaser yesterday on what she would do if she were mayor. She's not running (yet), but allowed how it was "likely only to happen if I just get mad enough to do it."  Of the 101 things she listed, number 67 was:

City Channel and WYOU would be supported at reasonable levels and explore a media center concept or other collaborations between Community, School and Government television stations.

This collaboration was a possibility that was outlined in the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee's report and makes good sense to pursue. The City Channel, WYOU and the MMSD's channel (MMSD-TV) perform valuable public services, and every possibility to help all three survive should be explored.

- Barry Orton

Verizon and Google Deal Not Good For Net Neutrality; FCC Needs To Act

Susan Crawford has the right take on the Verizon - Google "joint policy proposal:"

These two giants have found a policy vacuum and they have, understandably, filled it. A private deal - even a private deal aimed at suggesting legislation - is not the same thing as acting in the public interest.  That’s the FCC’s charge.

...What’s needed now is leadership.  Here’s a quote sent to me yesterday - from LBJ to regulators:  “Let the venal and the self-seeking and the tawdry and the tainted fear to enter your building.”  You need backbone to regulate a giant industry, and this one is too important to our economic, social, and cultural future to ignore.

Waxing America has been concerned about this for quite a while. Verizon and Google (and AT&T and Comcast and Time Warner) should not be making broadband policy; that's the FCC's job or, if the FCC fails at it, Congress' task.

- Barry Orton

Wisconsin SD-07: Chris Larson Challenges "Pay to Plale"

The Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce is bi-partisan.  WMC loves almost every Republican in the legislature plus Senator Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee).  Plale chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce, Utilities, Energy and Rail and some of his biggest campaign donors are executives from the cable television and energy industries, and from the WMC. Plale has pushed deregulation of nearly every industry his committee oversees, and Xoff calls it "Pay to Plale:"

Do the special interests pour money into Plale's campaign because he agrees with them and has already done things they want to reward? Or do they give so Plale will do nice things for them in the future?

Some people say the legislature works like a vending machine -- put your money and legislation comes out. But sometimes the machine jams and you lose your money, or you have to start over and put money in again.

Some people call it Pay to Play. But that's almost impossible to prove, that there is any quid pro quo involved.

But one thing's for sure. The State Senator from South Milwaukee has some unusual friends. And they're willing to play the game, whatever it is, to keep him in office.

Just call it Pay to Plale.

Milwaukee County Board Supervisor Chris Larson is challenging Plale in the 7th Senatorial District Democratic primary, and has attracted a lot of union and grassroots support so far. It's very difficult to oust a seated Senator in a primary in either party, but it looks like Larson has a decent chance.

- Barry Orton

Telecom Policy Astroturf Alert

A group of 17 minority-oriented organizations are coming out against moving FCC authority over broadband to a telecommunications/common carrier orientation (Title II) from a less robust information services designation (Title I). We explained the move in May, and its potential impacts on "Net Neutrality".

The Hill's story quotes a letter the groups wrote Congressional leaders seeking legislation over FCC action because:

...we are concerned that the Commission's proposed regulations could be a distraction from efforts to implement the National Broadband Plan.  By injecting uncertainty into the broadband market, we fear that proposed regulations could have detrimental effects on investment, innovation and job creation.

Sounds more like AT&T and Verizon's concerns than those of diversity groups. Unless, of course, the groups are astroturf mouthpieces that echo the positions of their major fund sources, like AT&T and Verizon. 

Closer to home, AT&T-funded Wired Wisconsin's Thad Nation manages to bemoan the fate of the 125 most recently laid-off AT&T workers and at the same time pitch AT&T-sponsored legislation for further deregulation of the phone industry. Nation entreats Wisconsin to follow the lead of Ohio and Illinois, where somehow "legislation passed within just the last few weeks" has already led to "...more than 80 new cellular towers ... due to be built in Illinois" and "roughly $120 million will be invested in upgrading the infrastructure of a wireless services center in Akron." 

Funny how these big capital investment decisions, which usually take many months to plan, happened to be announced just before or just after the Ohio and Illinois deregulation legislation passed, and even with the national "uncertainty" that the diversity group sock-puppets fear. 

- Barry Orton

Gulf Oil Spill, A Test for Voters: Which Rand Paul Horse Do We Back?

If there is one message from Rand Paul, it is that we have too much government regulation. We all know where he stands and we all know that he needs to bob and weave, especially in light of:

Bad cement jobs plague offshore rigs

Federal regulators don't regulate what type of cement is used, leaving it up to oil and gas companies. The drillers are urged to simply follow guidelines of the American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group.

Far more stringent federal and state standards and controls exist on cement work for roads, bridges and buildings...

...An AP review of federal accident and incident reports on offshore wells shows that the cementing process has been implicated at least 34 times since 1978. Many of the reports, available from the U.S. Minerals Management Service that regulates offshore wells, identify the cause simply as "poor cement job."

Rand Paul is going to switch horses and get off the nag that brought him through the Republican Senate primary in Kentucky. No more decrying government regulation, in all instances.

Now Rand Paul will acknowledge that there are moments when proper and reasonable government regulation is appropriate. That is a horse of a different color.

While Rand Paul navigates this shady steed through the troubled waters he will choose the most convenient road to victory. That is not a challenge.

The challenge is for the voters to decide if they are going to buy this ride by the seat of his pants.

FCC Triangulation on Net Neutrality and Broadband: "Forbearance," "Unforbearance," and the "Third Way"

Federal Communication Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski has engineered what he's calling a "Third Way" on the crucial issue of Net Neutrality and broadband development. Pressured by many into reclassifying high-speed Internet access as a "telecommunication service," (Title II) which would allow significantly greater government oversight, Genachowski showed sensitivity to the telecom industry (and right-wing lobby) pushback to leave the classification as a lightly-regulated "information service" (Title I).  Promising that the FCC would only regulate when and where necessary ("...a narrow and tailored approach"), Genachowski's FCC majority would take the step to reclassify high-speed Internet access as a "telecommunication service," but utilize "forbearance," a legal concept involving voluntarily refraining from enforcement, for much of the FCC's traditional powers under Title II, such as rate regulation and forced unbundling. Susan Crawford has a letter from the FCC's General Counsel Austin Schlick explaining all this and much more here.

This regulatory triangulation is not likely to satisfy the industry critics of Net Neutrality, nor stop the flow of lobbying funds to their sock-puppet mouthpieces. There will be court challenges galore, and efforts to game the FCC, Congress and state legislatures. The industry knows well that where there is forbearance by an independent regulatory agency, there can later be "unforbearance" when circumstances change.

One thing is certain: the "Third Way" will be a boon for the army of telecommunications lawyers, lobbyists, and policy consultants fighting for advantage on all sides of the many issues involving broadband. Thanks, Chairman Genachowski.

- Barry Orton