FCC universal service fund unconstitutional

[UMaineTeach]

No phones or internet for the poors. Probably heading for the Supreme Court where I think I can predict what will happen.

5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules that FCC's Universal Service Fund is unconstitutional

www.mainepublic.org/news/2024-07-26/5th-u-s-circuit-court-of-appeals-rules-that-fccs-universal-service-fund-is-unconstitutional

Appeals judges rule against fund used to provide phone services for rural and low-income people

abcnews.go.com/amp/US/wireStory/appeals-judges-rule-fund-provide-phone-services-rural-112245210

[litebright]

This is such a bullshit ruling. The Fifth Circuit wants to either force Congress to micromanage the entire administrative state or blow it all up. I think we'd all be better off if that court somehow fell into a black hole.

And it's not just "poors" -- it's rural markets where the cost of extending internet service is so high that the infrastructure would never turn a profit without government subsidy. Basically, like the government "forced" electrification into places that companies would not have otherwise have built if they had been able to pick and choose on their own.

I wonder at what point rural voters will realize that the GOP doesn't want them to have any services and to live in the wild west. If it was up to originalists, no place in the country would have electricity, internet, roads or mail if The Market decided it isn't profitable to provide them--which is most places outside of cities and suburbs.

[basilosaurus]

Jul 27, 2024 15:46:52 GMT -5 litebright said:

This is such a bullshit ruling. The Fifth Circuit wants to either force Congress to micromanage the entire administrative state or blow it all up. I think we'd all be better off if that court somehow fell into a black hole.

And it's not just "poors" -- it's rural markets where the cost of extending internet service is so high that the infrastructure would never turn a profit without government subsidy. Basically, like the government "forced" electrification into places that companies would not have otherwise have built if they had been able to pick and choose on their own.

I wonder at what point rural voters will realize that the GOP doesn't want them to have any services and to live in the wild west. If it was up to originalists, no place in the country would have electricity, internet, roads or mail if The Market decided it isn't profitable to provide them--which is most places outside of cities and suburbs.

The very (white) suburbs that probably wouldn't have ever existed without government subsidies and private market racism.

This is also why they don't want children learning actual history. Just stick with George Washington and his cherry tree. Nevermind he and Jefferson (and others) were slave owners. Washington probably would have had his own Sally Hemmings-esque children except for the fact that he was infertile.