No sooner did AT&T announce on Sunday its proposed acquisition of T-Mobile than analysts began handicapping whether federal regulators will approve the deal. The $39 billion fusion of the second- and fourth-largest providers of U.S wireless service (by revenue) is sure to trigger lots of hand-wringing at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). But the agency’s penchant for regulatory excess has harmed consumers in the past, and Congress ought to constrain it from doing so in this case. Under current law, the commission must approve all transfers of radio spectrum licenses …
Last week my wife and I bought a used car, the better to ferry our children between sports events. For this we went to the websites of nearby dealers, researched different cars online and, after settling on one vehicle, quickly called up its history–inspections it had passed, the fender bender in 2007, etc. Our online investigation helped us make an educated decision that fit our family budget. It was just another example of how the explosion of information online has transformed the lives of everyone for the better. Now comes …
After the panel, Professor Zywicki, a Senior Scholar of the Mercatus Center and contributor to the popular legal blog The Volokh Conspiracy, sat down with us for an “In the Green Room” segment. We talked about the problems we face if Congress enacts the CFPA, the real causes behind our current financial crisis, and what principles should undergird real financial regulatory reform.
Earlier this week the Federal Trade Commission yet again proved their uselessness, this time by issuing guidelines requiring bloggers to disclose any payments they receive from the subjects of their reviews or face a $11,000 fine. Because who knows what death and destruction would occur if Timmy failed to let his readers know that Activision gave him a new controller before he wrote a review about how awesome Guitar Hero 5 is. Now House Democrats in Congress want to pass a bill forcing the Federal Communications Commission to regulate the …
Should the federal government regulate what blogger’s blog? Yes, said the Federal Trade Commission yesterday — at least when it comes to product endorsements. At issue were the FTC’s guidelines concerning the use of endorsements in advertising. These guidelines, among other things, require paid endorsers of products to disclose their relationships with advertisers. The goal is a good one, to prevent deception and fraud. In practice, the lines are hard to draw — what exactly is an endorsement? What constitutes payment? It gets even harder in today’s world of user-generated …
Should Cheerios be regulated as a drug? That’s what the FDA suggested last month in a letter to the breakfast cereal’s maker, General Mills. The issue originated with a claim on cereal boxes that says Cheerios will “lower your cholesterol 4% in six weeks.” The FDA said in a letter to General Mills that the company’s advertising makes “unauthorized health claims.” Apparently, General Mills would not have been in violation of FDA rules had they left out a specific degree of cholesterol reduction. That pesky little four percent is enough …
