RESTORING PURCHASING POWER OF CONSUMERS ACT OF 2009
No bounds to the amount of creativity that can be found. "Fix" cable. It will stimulate the right part of the economy:
The Failure Of Cable Deregulation: A Blueprint For Creating A Competitive, Pro-Consumer Cable Television Marketplace. [2003]
Since enactment of the 1996 Act that deregulated cable rates, consumer cable prices have been rising at three times the rate of inflation and even faster for basic and expanded basic service, which is the choice of the overwhelming majority of cable subscribers. These rates have risen by more than 50 percent. Individual markets have suffered much larger increases.It's good politics, too:
YONKERS, NY [Dec 2008] — Consumer Reports’ latest national survey finds that more than half (56%) of respondents think that government hasn’t done enough for them in these tough economic times.
The FCC under Bush has been almost an abject disaster, but there is this:
"We are asking why some companies have taken steps to require customers to pay higher cable prices after the digital switch for the same channels that they received through analog signals previously," Martin told Reuters.
And the persistence of monopolistic franchise has lead to all kinds of vested, structural nonsense:
The 2004 State Study and Report on Telecommunications Taxation, released in May 2005, shows the average state and local effective tax rate on telecommunications services is 14.17 percent, compared to 6.12 percent for general business nationwide. In many states, taxes make up more than 20 percent of a telecommunications consumer's bill.
