Tag / President Obama

by Frank Maduri

Cable Unboxed – President Obama & Consumer Choice

President Obama has asked the FCC to allow the consumer to be able to have more choices in their cable television providers in order to lower prices and increase competition. The average American, according to Reuters, can spend over $1,000 over four years just to rent their cable box. While the price of cell phones, tablets, televisions, and laptop computers have decreased in price; the cost of cable television box rentals has increased.

This increase can be attributed mainly to the fact that there is little to no competition in that marketplace. The manner in which cable television regulations were initiated, the companies have exclusivity in many areas of the country. The ability to provide choices to the consumer is limited due to many other factors such as some telco providers, Verizon Fios for example, needs fiber optic cable lines installed in a neighborhood in order to provide access to their service. If the neighborhood does not have the lines, the families have less choices for cable television.

In certain housing types, the choices are limited because of other regulations. A good example is a condo or townhouse community which has certain rules from their association regarding the installation of satellite dishes (whether they can be installed on the front of a building) and the exposure of the building could limit the installation of Direct TV or Dish Network from being a viable option.

The cable industry needs further competition in order to flatten the costs that they are increasingly passing along to the consumer. America is about choice and the freedom to make choices to select the best possible product or service for your family. Cable television should be no exception to that scenario.

In fair balance, the cable providers are against this change to the regulations saying that it will lead to increased costs and will eventually be a negative to the consumer. They also claim that people are streaming and watching programming through different avenues and services and that this regulatory change will only further that ability of the customer to remove the cable service altogether.

It is an interesting argument and one that will take shape as the FCC weighs the next move in this situation. I only know that many people I know have seen their cable bills increase and they would like to see some remedy or ability to choose their service. I hope that this regulatory change provides that relief.

by Frank Maduri

Return of the Cold War? Russia, USA, and the Ukraine Crisis

The news out of Ukraine has dominated the news headlines and for good reason, the situation there is troubling to describe it lightly. The use of aggression by the Russian military is worrisome for the stability of the region and for the potential response of the United States in this situation. It reminds me of a return of the Cold War days, a stand-off between the United States and Russia which is not a scenario any of us want to see a reprisal of at any point.

 

Yesterday, AFP reported that members of the Russian cabinet are threatening to sanction the U.S. if sanctions are placed on Russia regarding the situation in Ukraine. These members are threatening to stop using the U.S. dollar in their international banking transactions, and Russian banks would not return loans from American financial companies.

 

These steps would be taken by Russia, the dignitaries have stated in order to attempt to “crash” the U.S. financial markets. In effect, that would create volatility throughout the global financial system.

 

The Russian response would not be limited to just the U.S., this same report claims that the Russian cabinet has discussed actions against the E.U. which include stopping the exports of gasoline and other energy resources.

 

The E.U. has not been willing to institute real sanctions because they are reluctant to risk the loss of the gasoline exports they rely so heavily upon. According to Reuters, the major players in the E.U. have a lot at stake with Russia: France has a proposed deal with Russia to sell warships to Moscow, British banks are heavily involved in Russian investments which have provided increased profitability, and German owned companies have $22 billion invested in Russia.

 

Same strategy

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin is using the same strategy he employed in the invasion of the Republic of Georgia in 2008 to legitimize his actions in Ukraine by claiming “threats to Russian citizens”. The Russian military occupation of the Crimean peninsula has major international repercussions.

 

Moscow’s interest in Crimea is largely driven by the access to the Black Sea. The news reports today are that the Crimean parliament has voted to join the Russian Federation, effectively splitting Ukraine in two pieces. The current Ukrainian government has not recognized this vote in Crimea.

 

President Obama called the events today in Crimea a violation of international law. Both the President and Secretary of State John Kerry are hopeful that they can maneuver Russia into peace talks with the current government in Ukraine to settle this matter diplomatically.

 

End Game

 

I am deeply concerned about the situation in Ukraine at this point, and I feel that the vote today in the Crimean parliament, whether legitimate or not, raises the tensions in the region. The region of Crimea is largely populated by Russian nationals who tend to be loyal to Moscow. The rest of Ukraine tends to a large degree to be inclined toward achieving greatness in a Ukraine that joins the European Union in order to bolster its future.

 

These dividing lines were of course the same rift which caused the weeks of street protests which culminated in the ouster of former Ukrainian President Yanukovich on February 22. One path toward staying with Russia, and the other path toward joining the European Union.

 

Some people would say the path toward staying closely aligned with Russia is the way of the past, and that the path to E.U. membership is the way of the future. All I know is that a country that severely divided either ends up in a civil war, or ends up fracturing into smaller pieces. In the case of the former Yugoslavia, they had the civil war, and then broke apart into smaller independent states. I fear that Ukraine is headed on this same course, and then complicating matters, Russia is directly involved in this scenario as well.

 

The Russian economy has already seen a backlash to the activity in Ukraine. Some experts believe that Putin’s strategy there will backfire, and others believe that he has put the international community in a very precarious position. This is shaping up to become the biggest issue between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War.

 

In the event that Russia continues to push further into Ukrainian territory, I fear the consequences of that activity could lead to U.S. involvement in the region. I have consulted with others on this issue in the past few days, and the consensus is that Russia cannot afford to alienate the U.S. or the West at this point with the state of their economy currently. The ruble continues to be negatively affected by the events in Ukraine.

 

However, I hope that a diplomatic and peaceful solution can be achieved which will recognize the sovereignty of the new government in Ukraine and provide those people with what all people deserve: the right to determine their own future. Only time will tell whether that peaceful resolution can be obtained.