The too-little too-late debate on the FCC's vote to allow more media
consolidation got me thinking about the right-wing mantra of
deregulation. Their argument is invariably that regulation puts brakes
on the economy, interferes with the free market, and stifles
innovation. They argue that regulatory agencies are only bureaucratic
interlopers that stand in the way of the American entrepreneur.
This is like claiming that umpires and their rules get in the way of a
good ball game. Without their self-righteous nitpicking, the players
would be able to invent creative new solutions, like carrying the bat
with them around the basepaths. Think Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, Arthur
Andersen, etc.
Deregulation without limit produces not efficiency, but fraud. It
creates not competition, but monopoly. Free market capitalism is
undermined by fraud, and is opposed by definition to monopolies. "Free
market" pundits who decry government regulation as "socialism" should
keep this in mind. Wise regulation serves to level the playing field so
that the best contender has a fair chance of winning. Isn't that the
point of the free market?
Hopefully congress will correct the FCC's folly. If not, we can expect
American media as a whole soon to reflect America's deregulated radio
dial, with its uniform right-wing propaganda on AM, and its uniform
payola pop on FM. Who will be the media monopoly winner: Fox? Viacom?
AOL/TimeWarner? Disney? The loser, we can be sure, will be America's
free market of ideas.
10:39:52 PM 
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