Friday, March 26, 2010

Why we Have the FCC and Other Alphabet Agencies

There would not be a need for the FCC if businesses behaved themselves?

By Nick Markowitz Jr

Believe it or not we would not need an Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and many other government agencies if people and businesses would learn to behave themselves. But since we can not, we allow government to get out of hand and grow bigger everyday.

So how did the FCC come into being? It was because in the early days of AM Radio Stations individuals would put up their own radio stations where ever they wanted on the radio band and they'd run them at whatever power they felt like. In particular with the night time atmosphere issues, which allow the signal to travel many miles, cites on the west coast were unable to listen to their local stations because east coast stations would not reduce their power and vise versa.

There was even a daytime problem where two stations on same band were over powering each other. So instead of the people who owned the stations sitting down and working out a way everyone could be happy  instead they kept fighting and arguing because of the almighty buck and no one wanted to give an inch because of greed. This is what allowed the FCC to be established--and now no one has been happy since.

It is the same old story you see it all the time. Someone opens up a business and starts making great money then others get into the same business until the market saturates and then no one makes money. Be it Laundromats, mini storage facilities etc.

And of course since the first ones in want to be the only ones doing what they do so they can charge whatever they want, they try every dirty trick they can use to stop the others from fairly competing. And then the government and the courts are the only ones you can call on to keep big business in line. There is no one else to call.

Time and time again business has proven it can not behave it self and another regulatory agency comes about. OSHA, EPA, MSHA, USDA, FDA, NIOSH, CPSC, NIST have all come about because big business can not behave it self.

A small handful of individuals are responsible for all the rules and regulations we now follow. It is  not getting any better as corporations continue to turn out products no one wants and corporations keep doing what they well please. This same problem is now playing out over in India with an electric car manufacturer who will not recall their vehicles for repairs even though a number of them have experienced ignition problems which have caught the cars on fire.

And the same thing has happened here in the USA with the big 3 until CPSC with court order stepped in and forced a recall. A responsible company would have realized they had a problem and recalled the cars and fixed the problems and come out of it smelling like a rose. Instead they sat there and denied it and smugly ignored everyone until the courts ordered it. Then they sit there and wonder why their stock price has bottomed out.

Until Big Business gets its act together and starts acting responsibly just get use to more and more regulations and bigger and bigger government. It is what we deserve when we can not behave ourselves. When we do not complain, when we do not hold individuals accountable for their actions.

When we reward bad behavior we leave the door open for over regulation and bigger government and eventually a Nanny State because we can do nothing for ourselves and this leads to Socialism and then Communism, which is exactly what we have allowed to happen.

We now have a government that tells us what to do, when to do it, and where to do it. Because we could not take a stand as citizens and do the right things.
Think I am wrong? Then name me 10 things you can do which there is not some type of government regulation.

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