The name of our joint – is Less Government. Which means we want less government – of all types, everywhere.
Regulations – are government. We would like less of them.
Less government and less regulations – means things work better.
And in the midst of the China Virus freak out – we are getting dramatic visual aides thereof.
One of the most amusing aspects is – often government admits government is the problem.
List: 117 Regulations Waived to Help Fight COVID-19
If government is the problem in an emergency – it is ALWAYS the problem.
The suspended regulations – at all levels of government – should never again return to reinstatement.
Because their waivers – are a tacit admission they were never necessary at all.
Of particular import in this – The Age of Self Distancing and Telework – are our Internet connections:
“A billion-plus people who would be going to work and church, restaurants and bars – are forced by governments to stay home.
“So everything tactile – has become digital.
“Work has become telework.
“Church congregations have become mass teleconferences.
“I have friends who would normally go out as a gaggle on weekend evenings – staying in as a gaggle on weekend evenings. Digitally connecting and drinking together – separately.
“And of course we are streaming infini-bytes-of-data-worth of movies and TV shows – to while away the government freak out hours.”
Two weeks ago – we predicted this:
Coronavirus: Nation’s Internet Providers Have Made #SelfDistancing Telework a Piece of Cake:
“In this telework ‘experiment’ – I have the utmost confidence.
“Because the nation’s ISPs – have spent more than a trillion dollars making us ready.
“We have ‘average’ Internet speeds – that are exponentially faster than 99% of us need to do what we do for work…away from work.”
A week ago – we noted this happened:
China Virus Lockdown Proves US Internet is Better, Stronger and Faster Than Europe’s
More EU government-mandated closures – this time on the Internet.
YouTube, Netflix Reduce Stream Quality to Ease Strain on Internet in Europe:
“Netflix and YouTube have announced that they would be reducing their quality of streaming in Europe to lessen the strain on the continent’s internet capabilities during the coronavirus pandemic.
“The moves comes after European Union Commissioner Thierry Breton, who oversees the EU internal market, implored streaming services to switch all streams to standard definition in a Wednesday tweet.
“‘To beat #COVID19, we #StayAtHome,’ Breton tweeted. ‘Teleworking & streaming help a lot but infrastructures might be in strain. To secure Internet access for all, let’s #SwitchToStandard definition when HD is not necessary.’”
“YouTube said on Friday that it would be switching to standard definition in Europe for the next 30 days.
“‘We will continue working with member state governments and network operators to minimize stress on the system, while also delivering a good user experience,’ YouTube said in a statement to Bloomberg.
“Netflix released a similar statement on Thursday.
“‘We estimate that this will reduce Netflix traffic on European networks by 25 percent while also ensuring a good quality service for our members,’ the company said….
Get that? The EU is scrambling to cut traffic by one-fourth. They’re dramatically rationing bandwidth.
“Because Europe’s Internet can’t handle the strain.
“But the US’s can.”
Why is Europe coming up dramatically short? Too many regulations.
Most especially – the freedom-sucking uber-regulation known as Network Neutrality.
We freedom-loving opponents of Net Neutrality – have long explained why we oppose Net Neutrality.
Net Neutrality: Venezuela for the Internet:
“Net Neutrality is Socialism for the Internet – it guarantees everyone equal amounts of nothing.”
How does Net Neutrality get us there?:
“Net Neutrality is the titanically stupid insistence that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) treat each and every thing on the Internet exactly the same.
“For instance, emails from Nigerian princes – deserve equal access to you as does a doctor performing your remote, online surgery. If that causes your surgeon’s connection to buffer and stall – well that’s just too bad. You didn’t want to read those Nigerian prince emails anyway.”
Well that is indeed titanically stupid.
What Net Neutrality does – is outlaw ISPs ability to manage the networks.
And what Net Neutrality does – is prevent ISPs from properly charging for their services on their networks.
Big Tech companies – Google, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, etc. – use a LOT of bandwidth. In fact:
“NOTHING consumes Internet capacity – like video.
“Report: Netflix and (Google’s) YouTube Account for Half of Internet’s Traffic
“And there has been an explosion of other streaming services – Amazon Plus, Disney+, Hulu, Roku, Ad Nauseum,…. And a panoply of applications – that throw infini-bytes of additional video online.
“All of this is made possible – by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The Comcasts, AT&Ts, Verizons and Charters of the world.”
Net Neutrality – outlaws ISPs from charging for all of that Big Tech activity on their networks.
So the next logical step is – ISPs stop investing in their networks. Because if they can’t make money on them – why on Earth would they spend money on them? Because human nature.
Which slows everything down – for everyone. Ultimately, everyone ends up with equal amounts of nothing – a la Venezuela.
How do we know all this? Because the Barack Obama Administration unilaterally imposed Net Neutrality. It was in place for about one year – after which the Donald Trump Administration wisely, in 2017, rightly undid the imposition.
And all the things we knew would happen with the imposition – happened.
And all the things we knew would happen with the rollback – happened:
“U.S. Internet Speeds Rose Nearly 40 Percent in 2018
“That’s a whole lot faster – in just one year after repeal of the oppressive Net Neutrality regime.
Speed increases were pent up behind the government wall – because investment money was pent up behind the government wall.
“The Trump FCC – unleashed the latter, which unleashed the former.
“USTelecom Research Shows FCC Broadband Policy Is Working
“’ISP trade group says investment was up $1.5 billion in 2017.’
“Data Show Continued Upward Momentum for Broadband Investment:
“‘U.S. broadband provider capital investment increased by approximately $3 billion in 2018, continuing the positive momentum shift that began in 2017 when the FCC initially signaled its intention to restore a forward-looking regulatory framework for broadband.’”
Net Neutrality went away.
And massive ISP investment – and the resulting massive speed increases – followed. Just as day follows night.
The US’s restoration of Internet freedom – re-bolstered our ability to withstand the subsequent China Virus Self Distancing and Telework freak out.
Europe’s networks – over-burdened by regulations like the titanically stupid Net Neutrality – are not fast or strong enough to handle the China Virus Self Distancing and Telework freak out.
Less government – wins again.
But that’s only because less government always wins.
This first appeared in Red State.