Conservative New Media » News

U.S. vs. AT&T: Government meddling at its finest

Mark Ciavola — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:25:44 +0000

by Mark Ciavola

Today, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an anti-trust suit to block AT&T’s impending merger with T-Mobile. There are many opinions from many people clogging up Facebook and Twitter feeds, but so many of these people don’t fully understand the issue or the facts involved in this case.

Having worked for AT&T Wireless in 2001, and having survived two mergers – one when Cingular (SBC) bought AT&T Wireless, and a second when SBC bought AT&T – I understand this issue all too well. So I thought I’d shed some light on the issue from the perspective of the companies, the employees, and the consumer.

The most important thing to be aware of here is T-Mobile’s current condition. The 4^th largest wireless company in the U.S., T-Mobile has been forced over the years to keep their prices low in order to compete with larger companies like Verizon and AT&T. Furthermore, they have had to accept customers that Verizon and AT&T turn away because of credit requirements, leaving them with far more customers who don’t pay their bills. Fiscally, T-Mobile is not set up for long-term success, and their sale will happen – whether to AT&T or not.

The one advantage AT&T has in this deal is that they operate a GSM network, just like T-Mobile. Verizon uses CDMA and Sprint uses CDMA and the old Nextel’s iDEN.

All that jibberish means that the AT&T and T-Mobile networks are the most compatible, and would avoid the lengthy and costly conversion that was required when Sprint merged with Nextel – even having to offer a special phone that would access both networks for two years after the deal.

Now, from the consumer’s point of view, this deal would allow some 120 million Americans to realize a larger coverage area, more retail outlets, and an improved buying power which will result in an increased selection of devices and a wider array of available services – including T-Mobile customers finally having access to the iPhone.

Don’t believe me? Simply look back to when AT&T and Cingular merged. Never before had so many wireless consumers enjoyed such a large network, expanded choice in devices, and an unbelievable amount of phones priced at $50 and below – often free with contract extension.

And, because both AT&T and Cingular used GSM technology, customers enjoyed improved coverage overnight.

Not to mention that AT&T’s service has suffered tremendously because of the high-bandwidth content being accessed by iPhone users – and expanding their network overnight will ease this congestion. As an AT&T customer, I eagerly await this.

The biggest complaint from the Justice Department is that this merger will stifle competition across the U.S. However, I direct you to companies like TracFone, MetroPCS, U.S. Cellular, and Cricket (the 5^th – 8^th largest wireless companies in the U.S.) as perfect examples of low-cost – and often no-contract – alternatives to the large companies.

In addition to these choices, there are often concessions made by companies in merger deals such as this. When Cingular acquired AT&T, the new company had to divest its control of several smaller markets to regional carriers – something I am sure would occur here as well. Although I feel compelled to mention that those customers living in the divested areas end up with worse coverage and less choices, because the government chooses to intervene in this manner.

Next up: Employees.

When AT&T Wireless was purchased by Cingular (SBC), several things changed. For one, the new company saw increased purchasing power when it came to negotiating benefit costs for employees. In addition, while there were some initial layoffs because of duplicate positions and redundancies (myself included), the company continued to grow (and I returned as well).

Employees also were able to be part of the largest wireless company in America, which resulted in increased sales – which means increased commissions for sales folks and more job security for everyone else.

Who would argue that T-Mobile employees are better off because they work for the 4^th largest company with the worst coverage of the four major carriers? In addition, because T-Mobile is forced to accept low-credit customers to keep up with the larger companies, many of their sales result in cancellations, and therefore commission chargebacks.

Also, T-Mobile does not offer the iPhone – the most sought after wireless device in America.

This merger would change all of that, and keep the standard of living constant for AT&T employees, but be a tremendous boon for T-Mobile workers.

The one downfall I see for T-Mobile employees is that they would have to deal with the Communication Workers of America (CWA), which is a foul organization posing as a pro-worker union. Although most people against this merger seem to love unions, so I guess this would also be a positive for them.

The labor agreement CWA and AT&T negotiated while I was there was good for Cingular employees, but terrible for AT&T workers – who had a far better deal before the union showed up.

One thing I’d like everyone reading this to remember, is that America is far behind Europe and Asia when it comes to wireless coverage and services. The reason for this is that we demand free phones and low-priced plans, leaving carriers with far less money to re-invest in their networks – which is very expensive. In Europe, there is no such thing as included minutes, free nights & weekends, unlimited text messaging, etc. Because of this difference in culture, created by the carriers themselves when they offered free phones in exchange for contracts, we will never be on par with the rest of the wireless world.

One way American companies can close that technology gap is by continuing to increase their subscriber base, and by creating and selling new services which generate additional revenue.

This merger will help achieve that. It will help offer AT&T’s 97 million consumers and T-Mobile’s 33 million consumers the best in what wireless can offer.

AT&T/Cingular has the most grueling and stringent testing phase for all products and services, and has world-class training programs for its employees to better service its customers.

At no time has T-Mobile ever been a top-tier carrier – and I say that as both a consumer, and as someone who lived the mobile phone culture for seven years.

This merger would be a plus for all involved – except Verizon and Sprint who would realize lower market share.

Verizon and Sprint should realize that they will receive 3-4 million new subscribers from customers who leave the newly combined AT&T/T-Mobile for a variety of reasons – including owing AT&T a previous debt, or disliking AT&T. But I guess they aren’t thinking that far ahead.

In the end, however, the Justice Department is overstepping its bounds by interfering with the free market. They do not understand the wireless industry, they are simply attempting to “protect consumers” by not allowing the 120 million AT&T and T-Mobile customers to enjoy a better experience – while assisting Sprint and Verizon in preventing AT&T from once again becoming the largest wireless carrier in America (until Verizon once again retakes the lead – which it did after the AT&T/Cingular merger, and will again).

The government does not increase competition, private industry does. See TracFone, MetroPCS, U.S. Cellular, and Cricket as examples.

The Justice Department needs to focus on the real challenges in our country – instead of suing states for enforcing the law, banning online poker, and refusing to investigate voter intimidation cases.

Until then, it’s hard to take them seriously.

Reckless Endangerment

Nancy Tengler — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:10:22 +0000

by,

Nancy Tengler

http://www.wiseandfrugalgovernment.blogspot.com

If the budget/debt ceiling debate doesn’t focus voter’s on 2012 nothing will. After cramming ObamaCare through Congress using a parliamentary procedure (Reconciliation) meant for routine spending bills not massive entitlement bills; after cajoling and threatening and “rewarding” (we call it something else in the private sector) loyal party members with scads of taxpayer money for pet projects if they voted to support ObamaCare; after listening to Nancy Pelosi so aptly declare: “We have to pass the bill to know what’s in it…” if you were still sitting on the sidelines, now is the time to engage in the debate.

Let’s set aside the $1.whatever Trillion spending boondoggle that is ObamaCare. Let’s focus instead on the question of spending and the sustainability of spending of our federal government.

Fact: in 2011, the US is projected to spend $772.4B on pensions, $874.4B on health care (before the effects of ObamaCare spending kick in in 2014), $417.1B on welfare, $254.5B on interest on the accumulating debt (projected to be in excess of $15 trillion by the end of FY 2011) and $830.9B on defense. Compare the budget in 2011 to the budget in 1961.

Just fifty years ago federal spending on pensions was $12.8B ($760 billion less than we pay each year to retirees in 2011). Health care costs were $1.6B ($872.8 billion less than 2011, and this is before the enormous costs of ObamaCare commence. It should also be noted here that despite exponential growth in health care payments since 1961, our health care system and availability of health care to the poor was so egregiously wanting, that we had to pass Obama‘s $1 trillion solution to fix it. What we couldn’t do with $872 billion surely we can accomplish with $1 trillion more! ) Welfare costs were $3.2B. Our interest payment on debt outstanding was $7.5B and our defense spending totaled $57.0B.

Consider: Since 1961 the federal budget has expanded 3,735%. According to the government’s own cost of living calculator. $10.00 in 1961 is worth the equivalent of $75.49 in 2011. In other words, while the average citizen in the United States has experienced a 654% increase in living expenses since 1961, the government has expanded its budget by 3,735%.

And is borrowing over 40 cents for each dollar spent.

This is the debate of 2012. Obama wants tax increases–more of your money–rather than to temper spending. And this is before the effects of the inflationary monetary policies of QE2 etc. seep into the economy and turbo charge consumer prices. The question for each of us: are his policies sustainable, effective, or for that matter, constitutional.

What is the primary purpose of government after all?

To protect her citizens from harm. And that includes reckless economic harm.

Enamored of His Own Reflection

Nancy Tengler — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:52:12 +0000

by,

Nancy Tengler

http://www.wiseandfrugalgovernment.blogspot.com

Or how Americans put a serial narcissist in the White House.

Some day when the historians are chronicling the national disaster that is this Administration, I wonder if someone will think to take note of the thousands, nay millions of times this president has used the word “I.” It is difficult to recall any public figure so self-referential, so self-absorbed and self-satisfied as this president. And will the historians take particular note of the fact that rarely, if ever, have such a civilized and intelligent populace willingly granted so much power to such an unaccomplished individual. Nor one so economically ignorant.

Point in fact: the president’s press conference on Monday where he remarked: “And I do not want, and I will not accept, a deal in which I am asked to do nothing, in fact, I’m able to keep hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional income that I don’t need, while a parent out there who is struggling to figure out how to send their kid to college suddenly finds that they’ve got a couple thousand dollars less in grants or student loans.” (emphasis mine)

What the president seems to forget, or perhaps never understood, is that he has the free will to donate that “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in extra income directly to that struggling parent. He doesn’t need to wait for the IRS to come and get it and run it through the horrendously and inefficient grinder that is the government bureaucracy. He is free to do with what that money he doesn’t need whatever he wants to. That was the whole idea of the American Revolution: the right to produce and earn and keep the fruits of our labor. A rejection of arbitrary taxes imposed by a distant and out of touch and self-absorbed monarchy…We seem to have become a reflection of all that we rejected and fought for over 200 years ago.

We seem to have come full circle.

Busybody Town

Nancy Tengler — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:32:31 +0000

by,

Nancy Tengler

www.wiseandfrugalgovernment.blogspot.com

A man who knows and concerns himself with his own interests is regarded as a man of practical wisdom, while men whose concern is politics are looked upon as busybodies.

Aristotle

Nicomachean Ethics

Q: Since when is it a bad thing to be rich in America?

A: Ever since the democrats–most notably under FDR–have used the wealthy minority as red meat for their socialist policies.

There is no reason to dance around the issue. Confiscating money from those who earn it to spend it on whatever a few people in power deem appropriate is definitely not the trait of a free and democratic society. Remember that our founders did not include a direct tax (income tax) in the constitutional power of government because doing so would create the ideal opportunity for the many–the poor(er)–to tyrannize the few–the rich(er).

Why does our government require ever-exponentially-increasing-historically-unprecedented levels of cash? Because our politicians–and especially the left-leaning ones–are convinced they know better than you how to spend your money. They know this because most of them have never accomplished anything other than being elected to office. Where, here again, they spent other people’s money to do so.

So while the national busybodies are wrangling over how much of our money we get to keep in the coming years; while they ignore the fact that they just implemented one of the most profligate spending sprees in American history and unemployment, instead of declining as promised, has relentlessly increased as economic growth has sputtered. While they ignore these pesky facts they are once more arguing for yet higher taxes slamming the rich in an attempt to somehow claim the moral high ground.

Let us not be deceived. Before Congress and the President do anything the following tax increases are set to kick in according to an editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal:

Starting in 2013, the bill (ObamaCare, or as the pols named it: the Affordable Care Act) adds an additional 0.9% to the 2.9% Medicare tax for singles who earn more than $200,000 and couples making more than $250,000.
For the first time ever, the now 3.8% Medicare tax will also be applied to investment income, including dividends, interest income and capital gains. That doesn’t just hit the rich, this implementation of the Medicare tax goes after every American with any assets at all.
Also in 2013, a 2.3% excise tax will be imposed on medical device makers. Which means medical devices will become 2.3% more expensive for everyone. Not just the rich. And if you want a real laugh take a look at what constitutes a medical device to these infernal busybodies. They have no shame. They want to tax your toothbrush and feminine care products included in their taxing scheme.

These taxes just scratch the surface of the scheduled taxes increases to fund the “Affordable” Care Act. The WSJ summarizes the affects ofObamaCare taxes and the current wrangling in Washington:

“There are numerous other new taxes in the bill, all adding up to some $438 billion in new revenue over 10 years. But even that is understated because by 2019 the annual revenue increase is nearly $90 billion, or $900 billion in the 10 years after that. Yet Mr. Obama wants to add another $1 trillion in new taxes on top of this.”

Voters overwhelmingly repudiated this kind of Gladys Kravitz peer-through-the curtains invasion into our lives in the fall. Let us hope the freshman Congressional class will have the courage to stand their ground against the nosy ruling class in Washington.

Obama’s Red Meat Rhetoric

Nancy Tengler — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:15:05 +0000

By, Nancy Tengler

www.wiseandfrugalgovernment.blogspot.com

Stay with me here. I am about to quote Aristotle again. I have to. Because his ethics and understanding should be part of our dialogue today. Especially when it comes to politicians. Especially when it comes to Obama and his policies.

In the Nicomachean Ethics, Chapter 6, paragraph 7 on Theoretical Wisdom, Aristotle writes: “That is why it is said that men…have theoretical but not practical wisdom: when we see that they do not know what is advantageous to them, we admit that they know extraordinary, wonderful, difficult, and superhuman things, but call their knowledge useless because the good they are seeking is not human” (157). Or good.

He goes on to provide an example of the man who knew that “light meat is easily digested, and hence wholesome, but did not know what sort of meat is light, he will not produce health” (158).

This man does not produce health. Knowing that light meat is healthy is only half the equation. The other half–the important half–is having the ability, understanding and, yes, wisdom to be able to identify light meat. Healthy meat.

The same is true of Obama’s rhetoric. Saying that we need to produce jobs and then proposing penalties to the very people who produce those jobs is akin to arguing for a healthy diet while downing a bag of Cheetos Cheese-Puffs. Voters of all ages and educational background instinctively understand the notion of cause and effect. If I touch the hot stove again, I will get burned. That is practical wisdom. Something that Obama lacks.

Time to step back from our president’s raging inferno of rhetoric and acknowledge that his policies have done nothing to create jobs and everything to create unprecedented deficits. In record time. Six months ago he was all for the Bush era tax cuts and now he demagogues the rich and argues for tax increases. Which is it? White meat or dark? What is the cause of our problems, rich people? Or uncontrolled and fraudulently wasteful spending?

I know healthy meat when I see it and this red meat Obama is throwing at his far left base is reckless and irresponsible. And anything but practical.

Lies and More Lies in the Never Ending Quest for Revenue

Nancy Tengler — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 14:53:19 +0000

By, Nancy Tengler

A country’s tax policy lies at the center of the debate over liberty. The Founders understood that. They believed that the individual must be protected from government because they understood further that when government has license to confiscate property it will eventually become addicted to doing so.

Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist 35 wrote: “if the jurisdiction of the national government, in the article of revenue, should be restricted to particular objects, it would naturally occasion an undue proportion of the public burdens to fall upon those objects. Two evils would spring from this source: the oppression of particular branches of industry; and an unequal distribution of the taxes” (emphasis mine)

He was right.

A recently published study revealed the United States ranks first among nations for the most progressive tax structure. In an editorial in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal Alan Reynolds writes: “A 2008 study of 24 leading economies by the the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) concludes that, “Taxation is most progressively distributed in the United States.” For all the accusations by the left that the rich must pay their fair share, The Journal of Economic Perspectives reports “the upper 1% of the income distribution earned 19.6% of total income before tax [in 2004], and paid 41% of the individual federal income tax. No other major country is so dependent on so few taxpayers” (Reynolds).

The accusations and distortions by the left are nothing new. Hamilton characterized these kinds of attacks as follows: “…argument presents itself under a very specious and seducing form; and is well calculated to lay hold of the prejudices of those to whom it is addressed. But when we come to dissect it with attention, it will appear to be made up of nothing but fair-sounding words. (emphasis mine)

Despite the fact that the Democrats recently claimed victory over the extension of the Bush tax rates, claiming that raising taxes would harm the economy, they will soon be back to their old bully pulpit attacking “the rich” for their greed and calling for higher tax rates for the “wealthy.”

It is they who are greedy. And, sadly, ignorant.

Hamilton understood the importance of sound economic and tax policy and understood further the risk to the citizenry when those in leadership didn’t. “There is no part of the administration of government that requires extensive information and a thorough knowledge of the principles of political economy, so much as the business of taxation. The man who understands those principles best will be least likely to resort to oppressive expedients, or to sacrifice any particular class of citizens to the procurement of revenue” (Federalist 35).

It is time for economic literates to explain to the public the facts of sound fiscal policy. Ronald Reagan style. And give voice to the Founders’ intentions when they penned the Constitution: That purpose of government is to protect its citizens, not confiscate an ever increasing portion of their income and property in its never ending quest for revenue.

The Real Christmas Hero’s

Nancy Tengler — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 15:08:32 +0000

By, Nancy Tengler

Much has been made in the press regarding Mr. Obama having to postpone his Christmas vacation because of a recalcitrant Congress wrangling over “his” tax bill. A little has been made about Congress having to stay in Washington; potentially working through Christmas because the Democrat leadership left all of the heavy lifting until after the November election when they could–how to say this politely?–uh, stick it to the electorate during their lame duck session. With the passage of the extension of the Bush tax rates by Congress and scrapping of the $1.1 TRILLION budget in the Senate last night, perhaps our ruling class friends will get to go home after all and the President will get to don his Oakley’s and board shorts and body surf for the cameras in the Oahu surf. Sigh of relief.

Yet, not once in the breathless press reports regarding Mr. Obama’s Christmas vacation have I ever heard commentary or sympathy or even appreciation for the members of our military who will be working right through Christmas. Away from their homes and families. In a far away and hostile land. Not once.

So, I would like to thank them, each and every one, and their families. I would like to thank them for their courage and their self-sacrifice and their dedication to the preservation of this great Republic. I think about our military often, I think about their quiet discipline and constancy, their devotion to liberty, and their self-effacing humility.

I think of none of those qualities, by the way, when I think of Congress. But I digress.

As impressed as I am by the members of our military, I am equally as impressed with the naivete of many of our citizens. Can anyone tell me what that mysterious Coexist bumper sticker means? Tell me please why someone would slap an End this Endless War sticker on their back window? Do these people think that our country, and particularly those that serve, like war? That it never occurred to the average person to “coexist” peacefully with our neighbors? Is their smug moral superiority so veneered onto their brains that they think the rest of us have lost our way? That we enjoy seeing our military men and women sacrifice and suffer and die simply for the sake of mindless aggression? Did they not study the history of the Revolutionary War that launched this nation? Can you imagine a Revolutionary patriot slapping a Coexist sticker to the rump of his horse? Or a Revolutionary farmer planting an End this Endless War sign in their front garden while their neighbor marched shoeless through the bitter snow of New England trying to defeat the most powerful army the world had ever known?

Justice Stephen Breyer in an interview on Fox News Sunday last week argued that the Founder’s couldn’t possibly have understood what the future would hold for this nation when they penned the Constitution and the Federalist Papers: “That being the case, and particularly since the Founding Fathers did not foresee how modern day would change individual behavior, government bodies can impose regulations on guns, Breyer concluded.” (emphasis mine)

(http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/12/breyer-founding-fathers-allowed-restrictions-guns/#ixzz18NrY5pkU)

It is exactly Justice Breyer’s kind of arrogance that inspires our fellow citizens to explain to the rest of us the way the world works. It is what motivates City Council’s to ban McDonald’s toys, or the First Lady to dictate nutritional standards to our children; that arrogance emboldens the hapless Prius owner to paste a Coexist sticker on their bumper–to remind us all that peace is the answer. In case we didn’t know.

So Justice Breyer in all his sophistication doesn’t believe the Founder’s exercised foresight? Allow me to quote from Federalist 34 where Hamilton is arguing for (among other things) a strong defense: “A cloud has been for some time hanging over the European world. If it should break forth into a storm, who can insure us that in its progress a part of its fury would not be spent upon us? …Let us recollect that peace or war will not always be left to our option; that however moderate or unambitious we may be, we cannot count upon the moderation, or hope to extinguish the ambition of others. …To judge from the history of mankind, we shall be compelled to conclude that the fiery and destructive passions of war reign in the human breast with much more powerful sway than the mild and beneficent sentiments of peace; and that to model our political systems upon speculations of lasting tranquillity, is to calculate on the weaker springs of the human character.

Those prescient statements seem to me to anticipate wars and attacks, jealousies and aggression and most importantly, to clearly understand the true nature of man. So, until the rest of us are civilized enough to Coexist, let’s offer support and prayer to the real hero’s–the ones who will quietly serve far from home during Christmas and the New Year, Easter and children’s birthday’s and wedding anniversaries. With deep humility and sacrifice.

An inadequately heartfelt Thank You members of our Military. May God Bless you and your families this Christmas Season especially.

Oh yes, and: Go Navy! Beat Army!

John D. Villarreal is running for Chairman of the California Republican Party – His Plan

Conservative New Media — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 00:49:48 +0000

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Candidate for Chairman of the California Republican Party

Founder & CEO

Conservative New Media

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Obamacare, A Boon to Scientology?

Nancy Tengler — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 02:50:48 +0000

By, Nancy Tengler

Did you know that there are, “reportedly,” groups that are exempt from the Obamacare requirement to own health insurance? I say this, mindful that Nancy Pelosi declared “we have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it.” It passed and we are still trying to find out what’s in it.

But, according to Sally Pipes in her book, The Truth About Obamacare, some religious groups are exempt from the mandate to own health care. Groups such as “Christian Scientists, who are uncomfortable with modern medicine, as well as Scientologists, whose criticisms are less clear, and Muslims who might oppose the idea of insurance altogether. American Indians are also exempt” (41).

If true, we may need to refresh our reading of the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…”

Arbitrary exemptions will do nothing to increase the popularity of Obamacare, but may go a long way in increasing the the membership rolls of Scientologists.

Based on my read, equal is equal.