Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[ergo sum]

Among the files I have on this computer is a very long file on the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Tom Delay was a big backer of that Act. Why? Because getting Ameritech and SBC to merge resulted in SBC moving to Texas. It was a Travesty and I think it can be argued the cause of the boom and the bust.

This is from the congresional record
1995
HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY of massachusetts in the house of representatives
http://frwebgate1.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdocID=54610622984+11+0+0&WAISaction=re...
The hooplah many of us heard as recently as a few months ago about a video world with over 500 channels being offered to millions of consumers by the end of the year is pure fantasy. The high tech hype has confronted engineering reality. The phone companies are still figuring out how to make the technology work. To pretend, as H.R. 1555 does, that 15 months from now, this world will have suddenly changed to one of widespread delivery of commercially competitive cable service from a telephone company, is sheer folly.


Here is the idiot Tom Delay in 1999.
Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend the antitrust division of the Department of Justice for approving the SBC-Ameritech merger. As the telecommunications industry continues to evolve in the aftermath of the Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996, the promise of that act can be fulfilled only if regulatory agencies remove the eye shades of New Deal regulation and begin to view the competitive landscape of tomorrow with a fresh look. This is precisely what the Department has done this week.