Ex-FCC official slams GOP commissioner for ‘Marx’-friendly policy
Former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) official Blair Levin, a Democrat, took GOP Commissioner Robert McDowell to task on Friday for failing to speak out about wasteful government policies.
His focus was on rate-of-return regulations, which guarantee telecom providers a certain amount of money from the government for the cost of providing telecom services. Or, as Levin put it, “subsidies to ensure their eternal profitability.”
Levin questioned why the fiscally conservative McDowell has not addressed the regulations. “You cannot call it capitalism. I’m not saying it’s socialism, but … Karl Marx would agree with Robert McDowell’s acquiescence.”
Levin said it’s necessary for a “principled conservative” to step up and question rate of return. “Where the heck is Rob McDowell?” he said.
Levin is the communications fellow at The Aspen Institute. He was the executive director for the creation of The National Broadband Plan. His remarks came during a conference by the free-market think tank The Free State Foundation.
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