I hate to repeat
the obvious (especially after the Senate just voted once again to not extend unemployment benefits despite the fact
that 69% of Americans want them to do so1), but the U.S. is no
longer a democracy. The latest example of this is Comcast’s proposed takeover
of Time Warner Cable.
Now why, you may
ask, should I worry that one cable TV company is taking over another? Good
question. The answer is that a democracy is dependent upon the free flow of
ideas and when one company (or, to be generous, let’s say six companies) control all (or, to be conservative, 90%) of those ideas, that
is not good for democracy.
I’m shocked that, thus
far, there has been nary a peep about this proposed takeover from our
government. But I should not be surprised because, as The New York Times reported, “Mr. Roberts
[chief executive of Comcast] has golfed with the president and hosted him at
his residence on Martha’s Vineyard.
“David
L. Cohen, who oversees the company’s relationship with regulators in
Washington, has been a big bundler of donations for the president and staged a
fund-raiser for him at his home in Philadelphia that raised $1.2 million. In
recognition of those close ties, Mr. Cohen was one of the guests at a state
dinner at the White House for the French president, François Hollande, last
week.”2
Remember when monopolies
were illegal? Now, as I mentioned earlier, six companies—Comcast, News Corp,
Disney, Viacom, Time Warner and CBS—control 90% of the media in America.3
(That's consolidated from 50 companies back in 1983.)
Just like the banks that
were “too big to fail” in the financial crisis got even bigger, the media
companies that control 90% of the media in this country have become even more consolidated. And our government institutions are so
bad at regulating them that the chief executive of Comcast is already
presenting this deal as a fait accompli.
And why is that? Because
the people who are supposed to be regulating these industries become lobbyists
for the very industries they’re supposed to be regulating. Again, to quote the New
York Times, “…
one of the Federal Communications Commission regulators who approved the
NBCUniversal deal, Meredith Attwell Baker, now works for Comcast as a lobbyist.
Since that deal, there has been a change in leadership at the commission, and
it is now run by Tom Wheeler, who was previously a chief lobbyist for the cable
industry. (Comcast is among the biggest spenders on
lobbying, having written checks
for $18 million in 2013 alone.)”4
So when your cable bills
goes up yet again after this takeover
goes through and there aren’t any competing cable companies you can take your
business to, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
But this is about more
than just a higher cable bill. It’s about the very foundation of our country.
If you really want to get angry (or just
be more informed), I suggest you read The Price of Inequality by Joseph E. Stiglitz
(http://books.wwnorton.com/books/The-Price-of-Inequality/), so you can learn in
detail about all the myriad ways our economy and political system is rigged in
favor of the 1%, and how that’s destroying our democracy.
1
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/01/23/69-percent-support-extending-unemployment-insurance/
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