I’d like to start off tonight’s edition by saying that I enjoy some of the pushback I’ve been getting in this Tech at Night series. It’s fun when someone comes here, telling me I’m all wet, then ending up admitting they’re enamored of the whole Obama regulatory apparatus. It feels good to have my pro-liberty, pro-growth, small-government positions validated like that. So to the multifaceted George Soros astroturf machine I say this: keep it coming.
And of course, one of their key talking points is that wireless competition is in danger. Consider that Radio Shack says you have nine options, and Cellular South, a carrier you might never have heard of, is suing AT&T now, while budding 4G national competitor LightSquared answers accusations it’s buying favors from Obama. It’s hard to see how the DoJ lawsuit is anything but an attempt to prop up Sprint Nextel, and hard to disagree with T-Mobile thinking its deal with AT&T will proceed on the merits.
I can only wonder how many of The 182,000 jobs Facebook has created wouldn’t exist if we had intrusive government regulation of privacy.
So I hate to think of how many jobs are put at risk by the coming Net Neutrality regulations, making Greg Walden’s call for FCC reform and accountability all the more urgent.
When I saw Eric Schmidt’s silly calls for more spending, I first assumed the Google CEO was still auditioning for a position in the Obama administration. But now, I also wonder if he’s simply trying to butter up the White House to protect Google from its own antitrust troubles. Given this administration’s track record, I wouldn’t blame him for thinking that it’s needed.