And yes, there were cyberjocks.
A cyberjock is an individual who records sound bites for several radio stations to play between songs and commercials, in an uninspired attempt to make an automated radio station appear as though it still employs disc jockeys. Thanks to the Telecommunications Act of 1996 – a bill that was not only supported by Democrats and Republicans alike, but also opposed by other Democrats and Republicans, thousands of people in the radio industry had lost their jobs. Those lawmakers who opposed the Telecommunications Act did so for any or all of the following reasons: it eliminated competition, it eliminated jobs, and it accelerated the homogenization of America.
Before radio consolidation, Chicago radio was bad – especially the FM stations. However, shorter playlists and lobotomized formats have somehow made those old days seem not so bad; it’s like a bell curve for mediocrity.
Shortly after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, a few airline executives claimed that the airline industry needed a bailout in order to remain solvent. In the name of bipartisanship, every member of the Senate voted for an airline bailout – all but then-Illinois Senator Peter Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald claimed that the money from the bailouts would only be used in the form of bonuses for airline executives. And after the bill authorizing the bailout passed the Senate 99-1, and ultimately became law, that taxpayer money did ultimately end up as bonus money for those executives.
This misuse of taxpayer dollars is similar to the automobile manufacturer bailouts in 2008-2009.
Members of Congress expressed the kind of staged outrage that is usually associated with professional wrestling when they “learned” that some of the bank bailout money was going to be used as bonuses. At the same time, none of those elected officials complained when Chrysler used bailout money to close an engine assembly plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin – and move production to a plant in Mexico.
Going back to the bank bailouts, it was later revealed that Congress was aware of the bonuses, since they were part of the bailout legislation.
There is nothing wrong with competition, just as long as competition isn’t defined as the elimination of competition.
When a politician cries for bipartisanship, the threats to Americans’ tax dollars are the same as when a crony capitalist says that the elimination of competition – and the higher costs and limited choices that follow — are in the name of consumer choice.
Image: FORD Taunus 17M P2(TL) deLuxe Two door 1958 Radio receiver BLAUPUNKT Köln; author: Yeti.bigfoot; Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license
