Tag: Regulations

Return Of The ‘Robber Barons’?

It pains me as someone who values knowledge that I probably have to explain the term ‘Robber Baron’.

What is a ‘Robber Baron’?

“Robber baron” is term used to describe America’s most successful industrialists. This derogative term was primarily used during the era of the late 19th century often known as the Gilded Age. 

The term robber baron is also sometimes used to describe any successful businessperson whose practices are considered unethical or unscrupulous. This behavior can include employee or environmental abuse, stock market manipulation, or deliberately restricting output to charge higher prices.

The original “robber barons” were feudal lords who robbed travelers and ships passing through their territory. During the 1800s, the term was applied to successful capitalists like Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and John Rockefeller, who used monopolistic business practices to corner entire industries and extract great wealth from workers and consumers.

These ‘people’ were brought into line in this country by regulations that prevented them from raping the nation and its people.

I resurrect the term here because of something Elmo the Parasite stated recently….

Even before Donald Trump took office, his major bankroller Elon Musk was publicly pledging to use his new power in the federal government to gut its existing efforts to regulate private industry.

Weeks into the Trump administration, Musk has mostly made headlines for an assault on federal workers and payments. But regulation may not be far behind: during a late-night public chat this week, the world’s richest man said it’s time to get rid of all existing regulations.

“Regulations, basically, should be default gone,” the head of the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency said on the call, as spotted by HuffPost. “Not default there, default gone.”

“If it turns out that we missed the mark on a regulation, we can always add it back in,” he suggested. “These regulations are added willy-nilly all the time. So we’ve just got to do a wholesale, spring cleaning of regulation and get the government off the backs of everyday Americans so people can get things done.”

It’s unclear what Musk thinks will happen if regulations are rolled back, especially considering the intensity of the shockwaves after all the drama at USAID and beyond. (Many acts of deregulation would also benefit him personally at his business ventures, ranging from Tesla to SpaceX.)

Regulations, after all, provide Americans with an incredible number of protections — from workplace safety to rules against companies polluting to making it so manufacturers can’t sell goods that are poisonous or dangerous.

Musk’s counterpoint: muh freedoms, essentially.

“If the government has millions of regulations holding everyone back, well, it’s not freedom,” Musk said during the call. “We’ve got to restore freedom.”

https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-eliminate-regulations

Apparently this beast longs for the days when the rich could do everything they want and have no control devices in place.

Elmo wants to stab the people of this country in back and make financial rape of their lives all the more easy.

The very people that fell for the lame promises are going to be the ones that are humped the hardest and watch their families suffer at the hands of these despicable pricks.

Your vote did this….enjoy!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–25Oct18

We have heard all the what use to be the GOP rail against the MSM as fake news…..just to remind my readers of my coverage…..https://lobotero.com/2017/06/28/all-this-fake-news/

I recently read a story that made me think of Germany of the 1920 and 30’s….Goebbels was a genus at “fake news”……like I said I read a story that made me think of ‘Heil’……

But he took his media antagonism a step further on Wednesday, wondering aloud via tweet whether the F.C.C. should revoke broadcaster NBC’s licenses, after the network published a story saying he had sought a tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. “Fake @NBCNews made up a story that I wanted a ‘tenfold’ increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Pure fiction, made up to demean. NBC=CNN,” he said in a tweet. “With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!” According to the White House press pool, Trump later said on Wednesday: “It is frankly disgusting the press is able to write whatever it wants to write.”

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/10/trump-threatens-to-pull-nbc-off-the-air-over-scathing-story

Trump, Our Dear Supreme Leader, continues to show his ignorance of how government works….and to fail to realize that laws are not made for his benefit.

Once again this person thinks that all laws are to protect him and his presidency….

Who Will Make The Internet More Secure?

This is a subject that we all should be focused on….I mean we are here and doing our thing because of access of the internet….but recently with a new president the security of the internet has come into question…..I did write about it at the time….

https://lobotero.com/2017/03/30/repeal-of-internet-security/

Even Alexander Hamilton could teach us a thing or two about cyber security policy…..

In 1774, Alexander Hamilton posited that good policy consists of three ingredients: “First, that the necessity of the times require it. Secondly, that it be not the probable source of greater evils, than those it pretends to remedy. And lastly, that it have a probability of success.”

Though this Hamiltonian framework is useful for any policy discussion, it is a particularly good lens for the cyber realm, for it encourages policymakers to balance the expected effects and unintended consequences of a proposed policy; and to harmonize concerns over too little, or too much, government intervention.

https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2018/07/what-alexander-hamilton-can-teach-us-about-cyber-policy/149921/

There are a few Dem Senators that have put together a deal for the internet…….

Mandatory location verification. The paper suggests forcing social media platforms to authenticate and disclose the geographic origin of all user accounts or posts.

Mandatory identity verification: The paper suggests forcing social media and tech platforms to authenticate user identities and only allow “authentic” accounts (“inauthentic accounts not only pose threats to our democratic process…but undermine the integrity of digital markets”), with “failure to appropriately address inauthentic account activity” punishable as “a violation of both SEC disclosure rules and/or Section 5 of the [Federal Trade Commission] Act.”

Bot labeling: Warner’s paper suggests forcing companies to somehow label bots or be penalized (no word from Warner on how this is remotely feasible)

Define popular tech as “essential facilities.” These would be subject to all sorts of heightened rules and controls, says the paper, offering Google Maps as an example of the kinds of apps or platforms that might count. “The law would not mandate that a dominant provider offer the serve for free,” writes Warner. “Rather, it would be required to offer it on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms” provided by the government.

Other proposals include more disclosure requirements for online political speech, more spending to counter supposed cybersecurity threats, more funding for the Federal Trade Commission, a requirement that companies’ algorithms can be audited by the feds (and this data shared with universities and others), and a requirement of “interoperability between dominant platforms.”

If you are still interested in this deal then go to the paper ……..Titled “Potential Policy Proposals for Regulation of Social Media and Technology Firms,” the draft policy paper

What About “Net Neutrality”?

If you are a blogger then you use the internet a lot….researching your thoughts before they are written….and if you are a blogger then you have some sort of internet defense widget on your site….for we all are concerned about the loss of the internet for public consumption.

Well it looks like our President one Donald J. Trump, is siding with the internet companies in their dash to massive profits and total control……but that was before….it looks like something has changed in the Trump admin…..but unfortunately, to me, something still smells about this……

A top US regulatory official on Wednesday unveiled plans to roll back so-called “net neutrality” rules that require broadband firms to treat all online traffic equally.

The announcement by Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai, appointed by President Donald Trump, signals a new round of wrangling over internet regulatory policy by seeking to reverse rules aimed at avoiding the emergence of “fast” and “slow” lanes at the discretion of carriers.

Pai, speaking to a Washington forum, said the 2015 FCC order — which is being challenged in court by major broadband firms — did not deliver on its promise but rather added new regulatory burdens which stifled investment.

Source: Flash – US regulator vows to roll back ‘net neutrality’ rules – France 24

We must be aware of the gimmicks that these politicians will pull…..

We need to be vigilant……this too will pass into a control substance.

I trust no one when they start dicking with the neutrality thing….

How about you?

Closing Thought–25Jan17

The end of “net neutrality”?

DAMN!  I was slow on the uptake on this issue….I want to thank my friend at “The Ripening Wanderer” for his post to grab my attention……

Source: Some People Are Saying Trump Might End Net Neutrality | The Ripening Wanderer

I am a strong supporter of a regulation free internet and so are many others….looks like we could lose this battle with the new President….

Trump’s pick for control of the FCC is a disturbing one……

President Donald Trump has picked a fierce critic of the Obama-era “net neutrality” rules to be chief regulator of the nation’s airwaves and internet connections, the AP reports. In a statement Monday, Ajit Pai said he was grateful to the president for choosing him as the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Pai had been one of the two Republican commissioners on a five-member panel that regulates the country’s communications infrastructure, including TV, phone, and internet service. There are currently just three members on the panel. The Republicans’ new majority at the FCC, along with their control of Congress and the White House, is expected to help them roll back policies applauded by consumer advocates that upset many phone and cable industry groups, including net neutrality rules that bar internet service providers from favoring some websites and apps over others.

Pai has long maintained that the FCC under former Chairman Thomas Wheeler had overstepped its bounds, suggesting that he would steer the agency in a direction more favorable to big phone and cable companies. In a December speech, he expressed confidence that the 2015 net neutrality rules would be undone and said the FCC needed to take a “weed whacker” to what he considered unnecessary regulations that hold back investment and innovation. Consumer advocates have been concerned that a deregulation-minded FCC could potentially allow more huge mergers, overturn new protections for internet users, and lead to higher costs for media and technology companies that rely on the internet to reach consumers.

I wonder how the Right will take this news……I do not see how they can keep up a brave face in favor of Trump when he is about to screw their net connectability….somehow they will justify this in some warped way or another.

But enough of that…we will just have to wait and see who does what to whom.  But whenever there is a profit to be made it will win out over service……every time.

  Just saying.

Media Shouldn’t Be Fooled By Fake Neutrality Bill Backed By Broadband Industry | Research | Media Matters for America

There have been many a post about the attempt to control the internet……but there is a new attack and the claims that it will protect the internet are BS!…..most of them are put forward by the broadband industry like Comcast, the owner of NBC/MSNBC/CNBC…….funny I have not heard much reporting by those on this new attempt to control the internet….I wonder why?

 

Media Shouldn’t Be Fooled By Fake Neutrality Bill Backed By Broadband Industry | Research | Media Matters for America.

Does Regulation Really Work?

Inkwell Institute

Federal Budget/Deficit Series

There is a big debate in Washington and among the radical Left and Right on whether financial regulation will work or not…..and a question that deserves an answer….something we will not get from the pundits and their minions…..

This, of course, is just my opinion….but I think it is a pretty good answer, but then I am biased…..

It is obvious that left to their own devices corporations will NOT do the right thing or control and regulate themselves…..look at Wall Street…..look at the oil spill….look at the health industry….look at….oh well you get my point I believe…..

I know…I know there are those that do not like the direction that our government size is going….and I agree, somewhat, to what is being said….but  (there is always a but)…..something has got to be done…..if not then these types of disasters will continue on a rapidly expanding pace…..

Paul Krugman made some intersting points in his blog on regulations…..

Well, here’s the thing: regulation demonstrably does work where tort law doesn’t. Consider the environmental issue: in reality, the perpetrators of oil spills never pay most of the cost; but in reality, environmental regulation has led to much cleaner air and water. (Look up the history of Los Angeles smog or the fate of Lake Erie if you don’t believe me.)

So why does regulation work? If polluters can buy off the system ex post, after a disaster, why don’t they manage to totally corrupt regulation ex ante? There’s a lot to say about that, and I’m sure there’s a literature I haven’t read. But one thing we tend to forget in this age of Reagan is the importance and virtues of a dedicated bureaucracy: when you have professional government agencies with a job to do, and treat them with respect, that job often gets done.

While Krugman is speaking mostly of the oil spill and regulation….it can be said that federal regulation does work for the areas that I have mentioned above……

While I agree with Krugman on the main point, I also see where regulation can be compromised by the influx of massive amounts of cash to the regulators from the businesses being regulated.

There is the conundrum of regulation……Greed can neutralize much….