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The following is a policy statement of the Coordinating Committee, Green Party of the United States. More ... Hear our prayers, O loving Lord, our God. Please listen closely to them, for they are not for us but for others. More ... Gene Kimmelman of Consumers Union has been following the telephone industry for many years, both before and after the notorious deregulatory Telecommunications Act of 1996. This act was supposed to benefit consumers by increasing quality competition between local, long distance and cable operators. Here is Kimmelman's shorthand evaluation of the result of the Act on your pocketbook and precious time: "Cable rates, since deregulation, are up almost three times faster than inflation (more than 30%), local phone rates are up, and the majority of consumers are actually paying the same or more for long distance, and no sign of meaningful competition in the local phone market." He rendered these judgements on the December 16 edition of CBS's Sixty Minutes. Anchor Steve Kroft produced an excoriating report of a law, backed at the time by the industry, that has boomeranged against consumers in favor of the selling companies, including the biggest telephone companies. More ... |
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