I’ve basically got three topics for tonight’s edition. It’s sad that two of them are government antitrust actions. I suppose elections do have consequences, and one key consequence of Barack Obama’s election is corporatist selection of winners and losers in the marketplace.
The third main topic: Alleged corruption. I’m still playing the role of skeptic on accusations that the Obama administration is playing favorites in favor of LightSquared, the firm that has been caught in a regulatory quagmire over GPS issues it may have found a workaround for.
I want more 4G competition, but I also welcome Darrell Issa giving the LightSquared/Obama matter some oversight. I’d love to have a clear answer to this question. I can’t support fake competition brought about by corruption. I reject Obama propping up Sprint Nextel and if it turns out that Obama is propping up LightSquared then I reject that as well.
Which brings us to the next topic: AT&T and T-Mobile against the Department of Justice.
A trial date next year has been set for the Obama/Holder lawsuit against AT&T. Remember these facts though: Even Verizon admits the spectrum issue, even as the firm uses the lack of 4G competition to try for some rents. Plus we’re supposed to believe that T-Mobile would challenge the top providers when it’s not even getting the iPhone. Also, even Sprint Nextel and Cellular South admit there’s tons of competition.
Guess what? Patent lawyering is a drag on industry, and we just passed a pro-patent lawyering bill. Isn’t that swell?
The Search Neutrality chickens are coming home to roost at Google, but it doesn’t mean the pro-regulatory forces are right. Even Progressive hero Teddy Roosevelt didn’t think all big firms were bad.