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	<title>net neutrality &#8211; CalWatchdog.com</title>
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		<title>&#8216;Net neutrality&#8217; = double-nickel</title>
		<link>https://calwatchdog.com/2014/11/11/net-neutrality-double-nickel/</link>
					<comments>https://calwatchdog.com/2014/11/11/net-neutrality-double-nickel/#comments</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[John Seiler]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Nov 2014 19:38:34 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Infrastructure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Seiler]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[President Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[net neutrality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[President Nixon]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[President Obama&#8217;s &#8220;net neutrality&#8221; scheme was branded &#8220;Obamacare for the Internet&#8221; by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., a 2016 presidential hopeful. A better analogy is the double-nickle, the 55 mph speed]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-70233" src="http://calwatchdog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/55-speed-limit-227x220.jpg" alt="55 speed limit" width="227" height="220" srcset="https://calwatchdog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/55-speed-limit-227x220.jpg 227w, https://calwatchdog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/55-speed-limit.jpg 468w" sizes="(max-width: 227px) 100vw, 227px" />President Obama&#8217;s<a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-net-neutrality-obama-fcc-internet-20141110-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> &#8220;net neutrality&#8221; scheme </a>was branded &#8220;Obamacare for the Internet&#8221; by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., a 2016 presidential hopeful.</p>
<p>A better analogy is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Maximum_Speed_Law" target="_blank" rel="noopener">double-nickle</a>, the 55 mph speed limit President Nixon imposed on the country in 1974, just three years after I started driving at 16.</p>
<p>After the Arab oil embargo of 1973 and the supposed global oil shortage, Nixon panicked and imposed the 55 limit under the slogan, &#8220;55, stay alive!&#8221; The idea was to force Americans to drive incredibly slowly, supposedly saving gas and limiting accidents.</p>
<p>The limit also was endorsed, predictably, by Jimmy Carter, as in the picture above, which reads in full, &#8220;It&#8217;s a law we can live with.&#8221; He always was slow.</p>
<p>But the limit was so slow, it took longer to drive, people fell asleep at the wheel and caused accidents that way. Long-distance truckers especially were damaged. (That&#8217;s what they got for supporting Tricky Dick in 1972 as part of his deal to get Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa out of the klink.)</p>
<p>The American elites also panicked over the supposed imminent crisis of &#8220;peak oil.&#8221; Which still is a bugaboo.</p>
<p>In fact, we were not &#8220;running out of oil.&#8221; And although the Arab oil embargo caused temporary shortages, the real problem was Nixon&#8217;s 1971 price controls on oil, which predictably limited supplies, causing the infamous gas lines of the 1970s.</p>
<p>When President Reagan de-controlled oil prices in 1981, the shortages &#8212; voila! &#8212; ended, and prices even stabilized as producers could make profits again and began pumping out more of the Texas tea.</p>
<p>The 55 limit was raised to 65 in 1987 and 1988, and the federal limit repealed entirely in 1995. In the meantime, I got &#8220;speeding&#8221; tickets costing hundreds of dollars from Michigan, Virginia, Texas and Colorado. Those ripoff states should refund my money, with interest, to a total of at least $3,000.</p>
<p>As to the Internet, all major prices &#8212; for computer power, Internet speed and storage &#8212; drop by half every year to 18 months. It&#8217;s called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore&#039;s_law" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Moore&#8217;s Law</a>, and apparently Obama never heard of it. So there&#8217;s no need for government to &#8220;control&#8221; the prices, the way Obama seeks, by mandating the same price of Internet use for everybody &#8212; so-called &#8220;neutrality.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s true the government funded research on the early Internet starting in the late 1960s. But the Internet really didn&#8217;t take off until the early 1990s, when the government cut itself loose, allowing the Net to bloom almost entirely unregulated.</p>
<p>Although Republicans are leading the charge against the FCC imposing &#8220;net neutrality,&#8221; opposition also is strong among Obama&#8217;s usual Democratic allies in Silicon Valley. They understand that an FCC takeover of pricing would harm their businesses.</p>
<p>If anything needs to be regulated it&#8217;s silly ideas from presidents, such as the double-nickel and &#8220;net neutrality.&#8221;</p>
<p><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="alignleft  wp-image-70235" src="http://calwatchdog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Moores-Law.png" alt="Moore's Law" width="619" height="578" srcset="https://calwatchdog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Moores-Law.png 760w, https://calwatchdog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Moores-Law-235x220.png 235w" sizes="(max-width: 619px) 100vw, 619px" /></p>
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