FCC May Require Comcast-NBC Deal to Offer Content to Apple

[NebulaClash]

Your ideas work in an ideal vacuum, but in the real world often fall apart. Corporations do not police themselves very well in real life as we saw when bank regulations were taken away and the banks then went hog wild trading fake vehicles for big profits until the whole thing collapsed upon them. Similarly the gulf oil disaster came about when short cuts were taken that violated safety regulations. Profits came first, safety came last, we saw the results.

Cable monopolies came about, as you said, because the cable companies were given the ability to take a certain market without competition because at the time they were fledgling against an established larger OTA market. But times change, digital took over, and many people cannot get OTA and are stuck with cable. A monopoly condition came about over time. It is the legal job of the government to monitor such situations and act accordingly. You don't want the government to do this, but then you have to change the law. Until then, it's the law for them to act.

People should naturally be aware of government overreach, that's constitutional. But today's environment is being poisoned by right-wing lies about what is not happening. Government and corporations are made up of, yes, we the people. Get over it.

 

[gcliv]

Your ideas work in an ideal vacuum, but in the real world often fall apart. Corporations do not police themselves very well in real life as we saw when bank regulations were taken away and the banks then went hog wild trading fake vehicles for big profits until the whole thing collapsed upon them. Similarly the gulf oil disaster came about when short cuts were taken that violated safety regulations. Profits came first, safety came last, we saw the results.

Cable monopolies came about, as you said, because the cable companies were given the ability to take a certain market without competition because at the time they were fledgling against an established larger OTA market. But times change, digital took over, and many people cannot get OTA and are stuck with cable. A monopoly condition came about over time. It is the legal job of the government to monitor such situations and act accordingly. You don't want the government to do this, but then you have to change the law. Until then, it's the law for them to act.

People should naturally be aware of government overreach, that's constitutional. But today's environment is being poisoned by right-wing lies about what is not happening. Government and corporations are made up of, yes, we the people. Get over it.

Corporations don't police themselves, but industries and consumer groups do. Don't forget one of the primary causes of the current banking crisis was government stepping in and forcing loans for those not qualified. And that that same oil rig did not have safety features that other rigs in other countries had, because of government (shut off valves).....also, it was up for a safety award by the government overseers.

My point remains the same. The FCC should stay out of the Comcast/NBC deal. Its a losing bid anyway; any involvement only muddies the waters and will end up with the government favoring (intentionally or accidentally) one thing over another.

 

[carlgo]

When this merger is approved, I'm sure in 5 years the OTA NBC stations will be no more and everybody will be required to have cable and satellite.

Next in line i'm sure is CBS will be bought by someone as there financial's are the weakest of the BIG 3.

With DirecTv many areas do not have HD locals, so you get waivers from the networks so you can watch non-local stations and get their shows in HD. NBC is the only one who forces you to use the local-yokal station and watch in SD.

So, I never watch NBC.

 

[NebulaClash]

Corporations don't police themselves, but industries and consumer groups do. Don't forget one of the primary causes of the current banking crisis was government stepping in and forcing loans for those not qualified.

Completely false, but I recognize the talking point. I was working in the banking industry, in the epicenter of the problem as it was happening, and it absolutely was NOT a case of the government forcing the banks to lend to people. It was the banks falling over themselves to lend to anyone who wanted money with no questions asked. They could extend a loan, flip it, collect the fee and move on. Don't blame the poor. Blame the industry for greedily chasing every dollar they could get their hands on even when they knew they were making risky bets.

No industry or consumer group stopped this. Most didn't even realize it was happening. Most can hardly understand the financial vehicles that were involved or how the game was played. But I do know, I was there, I saw it happening in real time. You are wrong.

 

[gcliv]

Completely false, but I recognize the talking point. I was working in the banking industry, in the epicenter of the problem as it was happening, and it absolutely was NOT a case of the government forcing the banks to lend to people. It was the banks falling over themselves to lend to anyone who wanted money with no questions asked. They could extend a loan, flip it, collect the fee and move on. Don't blame the poor. Blame the industry for greedily chasing every dollar they could get their hands on even when they knew they were making risky bets.

No industry or consumer group stopped this. Most didn't even realize it was happening. Most can hardly understand the financial vehicles that were involved or how the game was played. But I do know, I was there, I saw it happening in real time. You are wrong.

ACORN using the CRA to force banks to pursue a certain number of subprime mortgages

Fannie & Freddie giving to politicians that back their subprime disaster-in-making - Obama is near the top

Big government politicians deflecting/ignoring attempts to investigate or curtail the subprime loans being pushed on banks

Explanation of the government's role in the mortgage crisis

Washington Post article explaining the government involvement in the mortgage crisis

I completely respect your experience in the industry. It is rather difficult for me, though, to ignore some pretty straightforward facts about the government's direct involvement in the mortgage crisis - this isn't exactly some right-wing cooky conspiracy theory or half-baked talking point. The government created the environment that the banks were working in, and resisted the attempts by some to curtail the situation, that you describe. Does this absolve them of responsibility? No. But once again, the government's fingers are all over the genesis of a disaster that was originally designed to "protect the consumer" or "prevent discrimination" or "offer choices to those who had none."

They SHOULD leave the Comcast/NBC deal flat alone. Their track record on the topic is pretty piss poor.

 

[NebulaClash]

With all due respect, what you posted are right-wing opinion pieces that describe facts as they saw them while leaving out other big picture parts of the story. Yes people were encouraged to get home loans -- the profit motive ensured that this would happen. When it was easy to flip vehicles onto someone else, and all you cared about was collecting a fee, you sign up everyone in sight and no questions asked. That wasn't just ACORN encouraging people to get a home, it was President Bush pushing the ownership society, and Wall Street encouraging the securitization of mortgages. Everyone pushed this.

But because industry regulation was slack, the banks could do whatever they wanted, and what they wanted were more bonuses. Nobody forced the banks into this, they ran into the swamp with arms wide open. Even if nobody encouraged them to do it, they would have done it anyway. Their bonuses depended on getting people to sign up. Then it was flip, flip, flip into vehicle after vehicle, slice after slice, repo after repo. The banks were the problem.

This doesn't exempt the idiotic population that thought they could buy a $500,000 house on a dishwasher's salary. Absolutely you can condemn such people for thinking they could flip those houses forever with no consequences. I was condemning that thinking as it was happening. But when you have the banks falling all over themselves to give those people money, you cannot exempt the banks. Nobody was forcing the banks to do that. They ran after it with eyes wide shut.

Even if you want to pin the blame on poor consumers, it's still the bank's fault. The paperwork should have told the banks not to give those loans to the un-loanworthy. But the banks ignored their own risk management standards in the pursuit of more and more fees and more and more bonuses.

I sat in those risk management meetings and I examined those risk models closely. I saw what was coming, told everyone who would listen to get out of the market in late-2007/early-2008, was told I was crazy by my internal broker (you cannot trade on your own in this industry, you have to do it through an internal broker) who thought the market was going to keep rising, and sadly I won that bet. I saw what the banks were willingly doing from the inside and knew it would end badly. It did, and I eventually lost my job as a result (along with many others).