Don't Deregulate Me Bro' !! . . . . . . . . .

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Another one of those wonderful byproducts of deregulation which the deregulation charlatans promised us would not happen:

If you live in America, there’s a good chance you’ve not been overjoyed by your wireless plan. Simply by using a device essential to your daily life, you have been screwed.

Does Oligopoly sound familiar? Remind you of another game you used to play called Monopoly? You’ve got it. Oligopoly is its first cousin.

An oligopoly is a market dominated not by one, but by a small number of players. Because the number of players is so small, serious price competition doesn’t happen very much. Instead oligopolists tend to do sneaky things like put their heads together to figure out ways to raise prices, protect their turf, and limit consumer choices. They typically deploy armies of lobbyists to accomplish these goals. Some of these lobbyists go on to careers as regulators or vice versa (more on that in a moment).

The market for wireless providers is a classic case of oligopoly, currently dominated by AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, with T-Mobile bringing up the rear. In recent years, the number of players in the carrier market has shrunk, with the size of individual players increasing through mergers and acquisitions. Last year, AT&T gobbled up Leap Wireless, T-Mobile swallowed MetrocPCS and Japan’s Softbank bought Sprint.

http://www.salon.com/2014/01/10/ripoff_nation_how_verizon_and_att_stacked_the_deck_against_cell_phone_users_partner/


This is why The Gadfly told his former mobile carrier (hint - their name starts with an 'A' and ends with a 'T') to go pound sand last year.  They tried to screw The Gadfly over when he attempted to terminate a contract one month early while The Gadfly was in the middle of disputing some charges with them.  Before that issue had even been resolved, they sicced some nasty little collection agency on The Gadfly's ass who began calling him 20 times a day for a disputed debt of less than $100.  Never again will The Gadfly enter into a contract for cell service with any carrier.

But getting back to the subject matter of the article above -- The Gadfly's long-standing challenge to the conservatives still stands -- which is -- show The Gadfly one single industry that has been deregulated and has actually fostered more competition and resulted in better quality and less costly service to consumers.

Just one example.  Only one.  And of course, provide supporting evidence that hasn't been pulled straight of some conservative think tank intern's asshole.





Yeah --- that's the typical response The Gadfly gets from the right to that challenge.



----TFG