how will this affect us?

[Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com>]

I am sure most of you saw this item, on p. 15 of Broadcasting magazine:

>The election of Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL.) to Speaker of the House will
give a boost to congressional efforts to weaken the regulatory powers of the
Federal Communications Commission. Rep. Hastert... has been an outspoken
critic of the FCC, which he called a "renegade agency." As a recipient of
large contributions from the local Bell companies, Rep. Hastert was
critical of the FCC for blocking the entry of local phone companies into
the long distance market. Speaker-to-be Hastert will likely endorse a major
restructuring of the FCC, which will shrink the agency and give Congress
more deregulatory authority.<

Now, do you think that Congress will actually be able to shrink the power
of the FCC even further?  It's a bit ironic-- I am sure I'm not the only
one who used to think the FCC had too much power; but now I fear we are
heading too far in the other direction... What do you think-- do we still
need the FCC? 

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