Economic News

The FCC's Plan to Censor the Internet
Washington, D.C.--The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to auction off a portion of the airwaves for Internet use. Under the terms of the auction, the winning bidder would be forced to use a quarter of the auctioned spectrum to provide free wireless Internet service to all Americans.

"Since no ISP can compete with free, omnipresent Internet access, this plan means that virtually all online users will be herded into the government-controlled Internet. And as the history of radio and television has shown, once the government guarantees 'free' access to a communications medium, it will inevitably exercise control over its content--i.e., censorship.

"In fact, this plan already comes with censorship strings attached; the FCC has declared that this 'free' Internet must filter out pornography and other material deemed unsuitable for children. Not only will this prevent vast numbers of Americans from accessing content the government regards as inappropriate, but it will unavoidably lead to massive self-censorship by websites struggling to avoid government sanitization.

World markets slump as US car industry bail-out fails
Republicans in the US Senate refused to support a bill to help the carmakers, endorsed by the White House and congressional Democrats. Republican demands for union wage cuts derailed a last-ditch effort to push the emergency aid through before the end of the year. The breakdown left the car industry - which employs 3 million people - in limbo. General Motors and Chrysler have warned that they will go bankrupt this month if they do not receive $14bn in taxpayer funds.

Marie Cocco | Unions Aren't the Problem
Marie Cocco, Truthdig: "As Congress and the White House lurch toward possible approval of a loan package for the crippled auto industry, we are undoubtedly in store for more union-bashing. Note well that we did not hear any such tirades when vastly larger sums of taxpayer money - with fewer strings attached - were lavished upon the banks and financial industry wizards who created the credit crisis."

Linda Hirshman | Where Are the New Jobs for Women?
Linda Hirshman, The New York Times: "Mr. Obama compared his infrastructure plan to the Eisenhower-era construction of the Interstate System of
highways. It brings back the Eisenhower era in a less appealing way as well: there are almost no women on this road to recovery."avished upon the banks and financial industry wizards who created the credit crisis."

Joseph E. Stiglitz | Capitalist Fools
Joseph E. Stiglitz, Vanity Fair: "There will come a moment when the most urgent threats posed by the credit crisis have eased and the larger task before us will be to chart a direction for the economic steps ahead. This will be a dangerous moment. Behind the debates over future policy is a debate over history - a debate over the causes of our current situation. The battle for the past will determine the battle for the present. So it's crucial to get the history straight."