Richardcyoung.com

  • Home
  • Debbie Young
  • Jimmy Buffett
  • Key West
  • Your Survival Guy
  • How We Are Different
  • Paris
  • About Us
    • Foundation Principles
    • Contributors
  • Investing
    • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
  • The Swiss Way
  • My Rifles
  • Dividends and Compounding
  • Your Security
  • Dick Young
  • Dick’s R&B Top 100
  • Liberty & Freedom Map
  • Bank Credit & Money
  • Your Survival Guy’s Super States
  • NNT & Cholesterol
  • Your Health
  • Ron Paul
  • US Treasury Yield Curve: My Favorite Investor Tool
  • Anti-Gun Control
  • Anti-Digital Currency
  • Joel Salatin & Alfie Oakes
  • World Gold Mine Production
  • Fidelity & Wellington Since 1971
  • Hillsdale College
  • Babson College
  • Contact Us

Julius “Seizures” Your TV

December 22, 2010 By E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

The FCC’s new net neutrality rules are socialism at its finest. The rules are a direct affront to your freedom. They are a case study in crony politics. President Obama and his Harvard Law School friend FCC chairman Julius Genachowski are on the left, squashing private enterprise while horse-trading with big cable companies on the right who are lobbying to keep the status quo.

Before I get into why both are no good, think about what current FCC regulations have done to your TV viewing experience. That is, once you figure out how to turn the dang thing on.

How frustrating is it when you can’t find anything to watch with over 700 channels to choose from? More often than I care to admit, I find myself scanning all the channels more than once, figuring that there has to be something on; it’s me, right?

How about renting a movie-on-demand that skips or doesn’t play for some reason? Isn’t that fun? And isn’t it relaxing calling your cable company on a Friday night? Cheery service it’s not. It’s a shame we have to put up with it, but the FCC created this problem by overregulation that keeps competition out.

You do have some choices. Netflix by mail is good until you forget to return one or two and you begin collecting expensive movies. Streaming Netflix is better, especially with Apple TV. But that’s assuming your Wi-Fi service doesn’t get interrupted, an event that is quickly followed by your spouse asking what’s wrong with the TV, as if you’re suddenly the tech guy. Having options is certainly a sign of technological growth, but we’re way behind the curve in terms of the consumer viewing experience.

Lack of competition has allowed the big companies to get fat. Every time you turn on your TV, you have two guests watching alongside you. On the left (that’s the überliberal political left) you have the FCC, and on the right you have big business (which is sitting on top of and crushing small business). Both have skin in the game. You’re stuck in the middle holding their popcorn. And it’s your house.

The liberal left begins with President Obama, who has said “I will take a backseat to no one in my commitment to network neutrality.” Julius Genachowski, who heads the Democrat-heavy FCC, is a frequent guest at the White House. And even though the courts have already voted against net neutrality, Genachowski and his colleagues decided they are still going to go for it. As Phil Kerpen writes,

These Obama-FCC regulations have been rejected already by Congress and the American people. More than 300 members of Congress signed letters of opposition to FCC Internet regulation, and just 27 have sponsored Rep. Edward J. Markey’s bill to impose network-neutrality rules. The bill has not even been introduced in the Senate this Congress. Last Congress, there were just 11 Senate co-sponsors. (Mr. Obama was one of them.) During the recent election, the issue proved an embarrassment for Democrats. A group called the Progressive Change Campaign Committee touted a net-neutrality pledge signed by 95 candidates. All 95 lost.

The new net neutrality rules are another example of the left completely ignoring the midterm mandate. But what’s making this worse it that big businesses, with all their money, are desperately lobbying for their piece of the pie. It’s understandable since they’ve already spent billions in investment dollars building the infrastructure. But there has been overregulation every step of the way that has destroyed competition or any semblance of a free market. In the end, the consumer ends up losing.

With net neutrality, the additional costs from government regulation keep small businesses or entrepreneurs out of the game. They don’t have the cash. As Andy Kessler writes, “By discouraging competition in local access and refusing to change arcane licensing rules, this regime would freeze in place Google, Comcast, Verizon Wireless and ESPN just as the next wave of services will emerge to delight us.” It’s a government-run marketplace.

Beginning in January, the 112th Congress needs to step up to the FCC and strike down President Obama’s net neutrality. Cutting off funding to the FCC would be a good place to start. If we allow this to go unchallenged, the next thing you’ll find is that you’ll only have one government-run channel to watch. How is that better for America?

Related Posts

  • Victory!
  • Tom Brokaw: Impeachment Like a TV Game Show
  • The Politics of Pension Reform
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy
E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy
E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998.

E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention.

E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris.

Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com

Click here to sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy
Latest posts by E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy (see all)
  • Your Survival Guy: “You Wouldn’t Have Liked It” - July 8, 2025
  • We Finally Got on the Boat - July 7, 2025
  • Survival Guy: An All-Weather Balanced Portfolio - July 3, 2025

Dick Young’s Must Reads

  • What to Do about China?
  • Are You Guided by the Prudent Man?
  • U.S. Survival AR-7
  • ACTRESS: “Liberal Politicians Are Ruining Cities”
  • Could Nature’s Pharmacy Hold the Key to Cancer Recovery?
  • Biden Wants to Gut the Tax Benefit of 401K Plans
  • Progressive Liberalism Has Dragged America near Ruination
  • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
  • You May Be Surprised by America’s “Least Woke City”
  • Why Some Kids Won’t Go Back to School, Ever

Our Most Popular Posts

  • What Makes America Great
  • Can Elon Musk Break the Two Party System?
  • “People Will Die”
  • Your Survival Guy: “You Wouldn’t Have Liked It”
  • How Healthy Are Eggs?
  • Just Don’t Call It “Obliterated”
  • Warthog's Last Stand: Could A-10's Have An Anti-Drone Role?
  • Survival Guy: An All-Weather Balanced Portfolio
  • Sending Capitalists to the Gulag
  • We Finally Got on the Boat

Compensation was paid to utilize rankings. Click here to read full disclosure.

RSS Youngresearch.com

  • Your Survival Guy: “You Wouldn’t Have Liked It”
  • DOE Unveils Plan to Quadruple U.S. Nuclear Power by 2050
  • How China Weaponized Rare Earths to Shift U.S. Trade Policy
  • Trump Administration Moves to Curb Foreign Ownership of U.S. Farmland
  • We Finally Got on the Boat
  • Trump Flexes Tariff Power Ahead of August 1 Deadline
  • America Remained a Net Energy Exporter as Domestic Output Soars
  • Copper Prices Surge as Global Supplies Tighten
  • Happy Independence Day!
  • Survival Guy: An All-Weather Balanced Portfolio

RSS Yoursurvivalguy.com

  • Your Survival Guy: “You Wouldn’t Have Liked It”
  • ESG Doesn’t Stand Up to Scrutiny
  • How to Dock a Boat with Helm Master EX
  • We Finally Got on the Boat
  • The Big Beautiful Bill: Good, Bad, and Ugly
  • WARNING: Your Survival Guy and Gal in the Fog
  • Happy Independence Day!
  • Survival Guy: An All-Weather Balanced Portfolio
  • A Bazooka Fired at Private Equity
  • NYC, Crypto, ESG, the Haves and the Have-Yachts

US Treasury Yield Curve: My Favorite Investor Tool

My Key West Garden Office

Your Retirement Life: Traveling the Efficient Frontier

Live a Long Life

Your Survival Guy’s Mt. Rushmore of Investing Legends

“Then One Day the Grandfather was Gone”

Copyright © 2025 | Terms & Conditions | About Us | Dick Young | Archives