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The Fairness Doctrine – Infringement of Free Speech?

Friday, August 15, 2008

According to a recent poll done by Rassumessen, nearly 47% of Americans seem to support some version of the Fairness Doctrine.  I am shocked that almost half the country feels that it is fine for the government to regulate Free Speech.  My guess is that if folks actually understood what was being proposed, we would see that number drop dramatically. 

For those too young to remember, The Fairness Doctrine was a policy of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission that required the holders of broadcast licenses both to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was honest, equitable, and balanced. The doctrine has since been withdrawn by the FCC, and certain aspects of the doctrine have been questioned by courts.

The new version would be specifically targeted at talk radio, and the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Mark Levine.  The Democrats are unhappy that talk radio is dominated by Conservative shows, without a balanced number of Liberal shows.  Radio stations argue that they cannot generate ad revenue with Liberal shows, that they just are not popular with their audience.  Apparently, however, they are conformable with the Liberal TV news media (ABC, NBC, and CBS).   They are only suggesting that radio should be regulated, for now.

Having the government regulate the content and views of radio stations seems like a step backwards in terms of free speech.  If a station had a guest on talking about the importance of good child nutrition and the dangers of child obesity, would they than have to also have a guest that advocated McDonald’s?  Who makes the decision on what is “honest, equitable, and balanced”?  Nancy Pelosi or George Bush? 

Do you think the Fairness Doctrine an infringement of Free Speech?

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Why is your Electric Company Stealing your Money?

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Our monopolized electric utilities are one of the major sources of energy waste in our country.  There is a built-in system that allows them to build larger and larger power plants, passing along those costs to the consumer.  Because most utilities make a fixed percentage on their total revenue, as mandated by local state utility commissions, the only way to make additional profit is to sell you more energy!  These utilities have no built-in incentives to help consumers lower their overall energy use, as that would clearly take away from their profits.

Like many energy and pollution related matters, California has been leading the way at solving these issues.  Often derided as wacky, California has provided much needed leadership in re-thinking the energy monopoly that the utilities control.  Some measures have failed, everyone remembers the rolling blackouts earlier in the decade, however in other areas they have had very positive results.

Specific new regulations allowed utility company profits to no longer be tied to how much electricity they sell.  This is often called “decoupling”, and allows utilities to take a share of any energy savings they help consumers and businesses achieve.  Now California utilities make money when their customers save money.

So why is this a big deal?  Now the utility can make investments in increasing energy efficiency, and make a profit on the long term energy savings.   For example if the utility spends $5 million to replace all state traffic lights with new high efficient LED traffic lights, they than can profit in the $10 million yearly savings, not only in the first year, but in future years as well.  This causes energy-efficiency investments to become just as important to the utility as building a new power plant.

Sound like a good idea?  Some experts are saying that the US could reduce our overall electrical usage by almost half if adopted nationwide.  This is a realistic, and actionable, way that we can move towards energy independence.  If you agree, call or write your elected officials today and tell them that you want the public service commission in every state to allow utilities to receive the same profits on energy efficiency as they are allowed to receive on generation.

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