FCC to vote on net neutrality rules in February | PCWorld#tk.nl_today#tk.nl_today#tk.nl_today

 

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission plans to vote on new net neutrality rules during its February meeting.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler will bring a proposal to a vote during the commission’s Feb. 26 meeting, FCC spokeswoman Kim Hart said Friday, following a report in the Washington Post.

It’s unclear, however, what form those rules will take. Hart declined to comment further on the net neutrality order Wheeler plans to circulate in February.

Many telecom policy experts had expected the FCC to take action on net neutrality early this year after a year-long fight over the issue.

Nearly a year ago, a U.S. appeals court threw out a large portion of net neutrality rules the FCC approved in late 2010. The court ruled that the FCC’s rules came too close to common carrier regulations when the commission didn’t take the step of reclassifying broadband providers as regulated utilities. The court, however, pointed to a couple if sections of the Telecommunications Act that the FCC could use to pass net neutrality regulations.

After launching a net neutrality proceeding in early 2014, the FCC has received nearly 4 million public comments about proposed regulations. Wheeler originally proposed that the FCC adopt rules that would allow broadband providers to engage in “commercially reasonable” traffic management, and in limited cases, charge Web content providers and services for prioritized traffic.

But many people filing comments, and groups like Free Press and Public Knowledge, called on the FCC to pass stronger rules prohibiting traffic prioritization deals. Many advocates of strong net neutrality rules want the FCC to reclassify broadband as a regulated public utility, while exempting them from some common carrier rules, like price regulation.

Recent news reports have suggested Wheeler is leaning toward so-called hybrid net neutrality rules that would classify a part of broadband service as a regulated public utility.

The hybrid approach would divide broadband into two services for the purpose of regulation. One service would be retail broadband access, which would remain lightly regulated, and the second would be back-end transit service, which the FCC would reclassify as a regulated common carrier, similar to utility-style regulation for traditional telephone service.

In November, however, President Barack Obama called on the FCC to reclassify all broadband service as a regulated utility.

FCC to vote on net neutrality rules in February | PCWorld#tk.nl_today#tk.nl_today#tk.nl_today

Americans on the move want warmth, affordability: reports | Reuters

 

The 47th annual report by Allied Van Lines showed that Illinois topped the list of states people are moving away from with 1,372 net moves, followed by Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan and New Jersey. The states have remained in the top five since 2010, the company said.

In its 38th annual report, released Friday, United Van Lines reports that New Jersey, New York, Illinois, North Dakota and West Virginia represented the states their clients exited the most last year. Illinois, where outbound moves represented 63 percent of total moves for the state, has ranked among the top five for the past six years, the company says.

Michael Stoll, an economist with the department of public policy at the University of California in Los Angeles, said in a statement for United that migration patterns reflected long-term movement to the South and Southwest, where housing costs are lower, climates are less severe and job growth has been at or above the national average.

United said Oregon was the most preferred destination for its clients, followed by South Carolina, North Carolina, Vermont and Florida. The company said 38 percent of its clients moving to Oregon were going for a new job while 29 percent cited retirement.

Allied clients were most likely to move to Texas, Florida, Arizona, South Carolina and Colorado, the company said. The company said the most popular destinations were generally the same but the number of moves has increased with California, Oregon and Washington state showing the greatest increases for inbound moves.

Read the entire article:  Americans on the move want warmth, affordability: reports | Reuters

Who's Right On Dynamic Scoring? Ask Canada - Bloomberg View

 

Republicans and Democrats are once again locked in battle over whether the government should use a method known as dynamic scoring to calculate the budgetary effects of legislation. In an attempt to bridge the seemingly intractable philosophical divide, I figured the debate could use some help from a neutral arbiter. So I called Canada.

For those just joining the debate, both the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation generally employ so-called static scoring to assess tax and spending measures. This technique, largely favored by Democrats, doesn't take into account estimates of the legislation's potential effect on the size of the economy and, critics contend, its broader impact on federal revenue.

Republicans and some of their allies have periodically pushed for the agencies to provide more estimates that rely on dynamic scoring, which assesses the potential macroeconomic effects of legislation, namely the changes it could produce in economic activity and employment.

Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who will take over as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee in January, wants the CBO and JCT to make greater use of the practice, which he calls "reality-based scoring," for tax measures. Democrats have long objected to the change, which they say would understate the actual cost of tax cuts by overestimating their impact on the economy.

For what it's worth, the people who work for the Parliamentary Budget Officer, Canada's equivalent of the CBO and JCT, mostly agree with the Democrats. The PBO doesn't use dynamic scoring to estimate the cost of individual pieces of legislation.

Mostafa Askari, the assistant parliamentary budget officer, provided several reasons for the PBO's caution about the method.

The first is that predicting the effects of policy changes isn't as straightforward as dynamic scoring's proponents suggest, and in some cases comes down to assumptions that are a matter of belief.

"Dynamic scoring will depend on methods and methodology that are not really standard," Askari said. "You could have a wide range of views."

Another reason for Canada's decision to stick with the static method, according to Askari, is that in most cases it doesn't make that much of a difference, a conclusion many American experts share. "The assumption is there is an impact, but that impact is not significant enough to change the views of the policy," he said.

Finally, Askari said that dynamic scoring reflects an ideological agenda, derived from the belief that tax cuts always lead to growth.

"The source of this debate in the U.S. is supply-side economics," he said. "It's not an economics issue, it's a political issue."

The Parliamentary Budget Office was established in 2006  by a government run by Canada's right-of-center Conservative Party. It has authority to choose how it estimates the cost of bills, though Askari said an additional reason the PBO doesn't do dynamic scoring is that it has fewer resources than the CBO and JCT.

Nonetheless, the PBO has sometimes had to fend off political pressure. Kevin Page, who became the first parliamentary budget officer in 2008, said the Conservative government pushed him to use dynamic scoring for its tough-on-crime legislation, which included longer prison sentences. He refused.

"This upset the government, because they argued on largely ideological grounds that there were significant benefits to society," Page said in an e-mail. "We stayed out of that debate."

Page said dynamic scoring could be useful in some instances, if those conducting the studies have the independence (and the resources) to do it well -- what he called a "systematic and consistent approach."

It's debatable whether Ryan's proposal fits that description. For instance, it would mainly apply to tax measures and would prevent the CBO from considering the macroeconomic effect of major public spending bills, such as infrastructure projects or education -- an approach that Askari said made no sense. (Former Republican CBO directors have made the same argument.)

The more important test will be how the CBO and JCT would handle their new assignment. If the cost of tax bills decreases significantly, the onus will be on the scorers to show how they reached that conclusion.

Read more by clicking on the following:  Who's Right On Dynamic Scoring? Ask Canada - Bloomberg View

White Castle Introduces Veggie Sliders - Businessweek

 

Late-night burger chain White Castle announced this week that it will start offering a 99¢ veggie slider, essentially a vegetarian version of the mini beef burgers the chain is known for. Coming from a company that sells sacks (and even crates) of tiny cheeseburgers to the munchie afflicted, the move is something of a surprise. Especially because veggie burgers and other fare marketed as "healthier" than typical fast food have barely moved the needle at other chains so far.

Veggie burgers remain few and far between in fast food. Burger King offers one, but Wendy's never has. In 2011, McDonald’s then-chief operating officer (and now chief executive officer) Don Thompson told investors that the company had attempted several times to launch veggie burgers in the U.S., including in Southern California in the early 2000s. But "we ended up serving four a day,” he said. Salads typically sell poorly, too, with only 2.3 percent of orders at burger fast-food chains including a salad main dish and 1.3 percent including a side salad, according to data from NPD.

Despite these headwinds, White Castle Vice President Jamie Richardson says he expects the new veggie sliders, a limited-time menu offering, to attract new customers. In a survey the company conduced in 2013, veggie sliders were among the top three suggestions from White Castle customers, Richardson adds. And when White Castle tested the sliders in 12 East Coast stores this summer, the burgers sold better than other products launched in the past two years, including chicken and waffles and Siracha chicken sliders. Not bad when you consider that only 5 percent of adults report being vegetarian.

Until now, White Castle has had no vegetarian option besides fries, onion rings, and cheese sticks, and the only vegetables the chain stocks in the kitchen are onions and pickles (seriously, unless you count ketchup). So the company is likely banking on the idea that vegetarians, who probably avoided White Castle before, can now join their meat-eating friends for a meal. That prevents what's known in the industry as "the veto vote"—when an entire group decides not to eat at a restaurant because it doesn't offer a menu item that suits the dietary requirements of one person. “If options like a veggie burger exists, it reduces the veto vote and gives everyone in the party a chance to order what they want," says Darren Tristano, executive vice president at Technomic, a food industry researcher.

It also gives diners the option to diversify their meal, Richardson says. A sack of meat burgers with a veggie slider on the side, perhaps, or a mix-and-match crate.  Still, says Tristano, when it comes to healthy menu items, “our research indicates only half of the consumers who are looking for the healthier option will actually choose it when ordering.” Not that veggie burgers are necessarily healthier--their calorie and fat count (pdf) clocks in at around the same as plain beef sliders. The new burger does at least put White Castle on the map for those after a meat-free meal. And if it doesn't work, the chain can rest assured that 84 percent of vegetarians and vegans go back to eating meat anyway.

White Castle Introduces Veggie Sliders - Businessweek

Wisconsin's Walker facing opposition in own party - Yahoo News

 

Now Republican lawmakers are pressing to set the agenda.

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In addition to right-to-work legislation, conservatives are talking about social issues, such as banning abortions for pregnancies after 20 weeks, and making it more difficult for prosecutors to launch secret "John Doe" investigations, which are Wisconsin's version of a grand jury probe. Walker himself has been the target of two such probes. Both issues could provoke legislative battles.

The statewide Chamber of Commerce is among the powerful interests pushing for a right-to-work law. Backers argue that Wisconsin will be at a competitive disadvantage in attracting business until it can guarantee that workers won't have to pay union dues on union-contract jobs if they don't want to. Several neighboring states have such laws.

"It just feels like this is the right time for it," said Republican Rep. Chris Kapenga, who plans to sponsor the measure.

Walker dismissed the issue as "a distraction" and said tax cuts mean more for the economy. Walker wants to cut both property and income taxes and run through several other conservative priorities, such as required drug testing for food stamp recipients and expanded school vouchers. He also needs to address a looming $2.2 billion budget shortfall, and wants the budget wrapped up faster than usual.

"You can see why he would just as soon put off things like right to work," said Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette University Law School poll, who noted that, after withstanding protests over the anti-union action in his first term, Walker would rather demonstrate smooth efficiency in contrast to the political gridlock of Congress.

Read the entire article by Clicking on the following:  Wisconsin's Walker facing opposition in own party - Yahoo News

Slavery, salt on South Korea's Sinui Islands - Chicago Tribune

 

The summer sun beat down on the shallow, sea-fed fields where Kim Seong-baek was forced to work without pay, day after 18-hour day mining the big salt crystals that blossomed in the mud around him. Half-blind and in rags, Kim grabbed another slave, and the two men — both disabled — headed for the coast.

Far from Seoul, the glittering steel-and-glass capital of one of Asia's richest countries, they were now hunted men on this tiny, remote island where the enslavement of disabled salt farm workers is an open secret.

"It was a living hell," Kim said. "I thought my life was over."

Lost, they wandered past asphalt-black salt fields sparkling with a patina of thin white crust. They could feel the islanders they passed watching them. Everyone knew who belonged and who didn't.

South Korea Slave Islands

AP image

In this image taken from video footage released by Guro Police, Kim Seong-baek stands on the deck of a boat leaving Sinui Island, South Korea. (AP image)

Near a grocery, the store owner's son came out and asked what they were doing. Kim broke down, begged for help, said he'd been held against his will. The man offered to take them to the police to file a report. Instead, he called their boss, who beat Kim with a rake — and it was back to the salt fields.

"I couldn't fight back," Kim said, in a recent series of interviews with The Associated Press whose details are corroborated by court records and by lawyers, police and government officials. "The islanders are too organized, too connected."

'Neglected and mistreated'

Slavery thrives on this chain of rural islands off South Korea's rugged southwest coast, nurtured by a long history of exploitation and the demands of trying to squeeze a living from the sea.

Five times during the last decade, revelations of slavery involving the disabled have emerged, each time generating national shame and outrage. Kim's case prompted a nationwide government probe over the course of several months last year. Officials searched more than 38,000 salt, fish and agricultural farms and disabled facilities and found more than 100 workers who had received no — or only scant — pay, and more than 100 who had been reported missing by their families.

Yet little has changed on the islands, according to a months-long investigation by the AP based on court and police documents and dozens of interviews with freed slaves, salt farmers, villagers and officials.

Although 50 island farm owners and regional job brokers were indicted, no local police or officials have faced punishment — and national police say none will, despite multiple interviews showing some knew about the slaves and even stopped escape attempts.

It was a living hell. I thought my life was over.- Kim Seong-baek

Slavery has been so pervasive that regional judges have shown leniency toward several perpetrators

Read the rest of the article by clicking on the following:   Slavery, salt on South Korea's Sinui Islands - Chicago Tribune