[Vision2020] don't kill government

[Ted Moffett]

In the 1990s, my phone connection was malfunctioning.  I checked to make
sure it was not a problem in the house wiring or phone, but originating
before the phone cable connection to the outside of the house.

I called to report the malfunction, but was told for weeks by the phone
company that the problem must be internal to the house wiring, etc.  So, the
Idaho Public Utilities Commission came to the rescue, after I called them to
report the problem, which was not being corrected.  There was a
malfunctioning unit that was rather new and expensive that the phone company
had ruled out as a source of the problem.  I even received a home visit from
a representative of the phone company, after calling the IPUC, which was
rather surprising.

I wonder if there was no external oversight of the phone company, how long
it would have been before my phone connection was fixed...

The big bad tax and regulate bureaucratic federal and/or state government's
interference in the private sector should be downsized, because the free
enterprize corporate private sector can self regulate, right?  And the
massive disastrous oil deluge (calling it a "spill" is euphemistic) in the
US Gulf could not have been prevented with more rigorous government
oversight (US Minerals Management Service was too cozy with big oil)
with mandates for more redundant and robust safeguards against an oil well
explosion?  The US government and British Petroleum et. al. both have failed
to ensure that the necessary precautions were taken to guard against this
catastrophic oil deluge.

I don't trust the corporate private sector to self regulate to protect the
public good anymore than I trust the government to adequately police itself
regarding corruption, incompetence and waste.  Of course both government and
the private sector need to be monitored and subject to external checks and
balances, with teeth.  Both government and the private sector lack the level
of transparency regarding their behavior that is necessary to protect the
public good.

The Fourth Estate is failing in our system.  There is such a concentration
of power in both government and the corporate sector, who of course are
often in collusion, that they can thumb their noses at the public, and get
away with it, while the hoi polloi is dumbed down with infotainment junk and
misleading sound bite sideshows, like the Climatic Research Unit e-mail
hack, for example, dominating the news late 2009, while the just released
critical reports of from the National Academy of Sciences, on climate
change, are largely ignored.  We have a system of media controlled greatly
by the very corporate interests who should be independently monitored by the
Fourth Estate.

Another example: the fact a huge amount of media bandwidth is given to Sarah
Palin, while some of the most brilliant and important professionals in
science, technology and politics, are not covered extensively, is a travesty
of journalism.  Why is Nobel Laureate scientist US Energy Secretary Chu not
out front in the media advocating a long term energy policy to dramatically
reduce the US dependence on oil?  As was stated on "Meet the Press" today by
Friedman (  http://rss.msnbc.msn.com/id/37279599/ns/meet_the_press/page/5/ ),
it's as though he's in the "witness protection program."  Sarah Palin's
"drill baby drill" mantra received massive media coverage.

As Ed Schultz said on his radio show recently, regarding the oil deluge in
the US Gulf, the oil corporations can walk the US Congress like a dog...
------------------------------------------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett

On 5/23/10, Bill London <london at moscow.com> wrote:
>
>  Here's another story of corporate arrogance, but one with a happy ending.
>
> Our phone company, Verizon, took $85 from us by adding that amount to our
> automatic monthly credit card payment in December 2009. Verizon claimed the
> $85 was charged to pay for repairs that we had not received or ordered. So,
> we called to protest. The Verizon representative said they would make sure
> the money was returned to us since their repair department acknowledged that
> the $85 charge was bogus.
>
> For four months, the $85 was not returned and we called every month and got
> the same promises.
>
> Our last call was May 10. This time the representative informed us that
> after so many months of these appeals, Verizon policy states that the
> company can just refuse to pay. Verizon unilaterally decided that we were
> too much trouble and were closing the case and keeping our money. The end.
>
> Not quite. On May 11, we called the Idaho Public Utilities Commission,
> explained the situation and asked them to investigate. On May 12, we got a
> very apologetic call from Verizon. The Verizon representative was oh-so
> sorry for the misunderstanding, and was oh-so thankful that the IPUC brought
> this problem to their attention. The $85 they took from us would be applied
> to our June and July regular billing.
>
> There's a moral here, especially for all the tea-partiers and
> arch-conservatives who want to let the corporations have total dominion in
> this country by decimating the budgets and power of government. Remember
> that big business is not your buddy, and if you take away the checks and
> balances provided by a strong state and federal government, you will not
> have anyone to turn to if you want your $85 back.
>
> BL
>
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