subject: Government Deregulation: Why the Freedom to Choose Affects a Healthy Economy [print this page] Government Deregulation: Why the Freedom to Choose Affects a Healthy Economy
How many utility bills do you think the average family has to pay each month? Picture a world where these same utilities were not under some form of deregulation. I can tell you right now that in my home, there are at least five different utility commitments. Aside from the major commitments like the mortgage and car payment, there are some overlooked and somewhat annoying ones. How many people do you know commit themselves to a cell phone, satellite TV, or internet bill each month? At least a few, right? Maybe yourself, even!
Thank goodness for government deregulation. This is the act of the federal government stepping in to prevent major corporations from monopolizing. Deregulation has been occuring for many decades, with the most notable one happening back in 1984. Prior to that year, the telecommunications industry was dominated by AT&T. When Americans wanted to make a phone call (local or long distance), that dial tone they heard when they picked up the phone was controlled by AT&T. Hard working families had no choice, which made the idea really ugly. This gave the then telecom giant the freedom to price their service where ever they wanted.
With no competitors in the industry, customers had no choice but to use them for local and long distance. Since they were providers of long distance also, AT&T charged users north of $0.75 per minute. Ouch! The deregulation of the telecommunications industry gave birth to companies like MCI, Sprint, and GTE. Recently the government executed another in the energy deregulation. No longer are the same handful of suppliers able to offer energy at astronomically high costs. This time the federal government left it up to the states to decide. There are many states currently under deregulation of commercial and residential energy. The rest of the states are making progress. Energy deregulation, quite frankly, is sweeping across the nation.
There are other industries that have been deregulated. This is always good news because the act forces competition. When there is more than one company in an industry providing a service, the rivals have no choice but to engage in a pricing war. They'll all be fighting to boast the lowest price to the general public. Industry deregulation is beautiful, and I think it's one of the many underrated favors put into play by our federal government. Without it, imagine having no choices. The idea of "shopping" for a deal would be a moot point
