back to article Trump sets sights on net neutrality

President Trump is spoiling for yet another fight and this time, much to the despair of internet experts, it is net neutrality. At a White House press conference on Thursday, presidential spokesman Sean Spicer went out of his way to highlight the controversial topic and characterized it using the Trump Administration's …

  1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

    Reminds me of one of our old VPs

    In one of my previous jobs we used to have a SVP (who has done a round of being some sort of "innovation person" in half of the Silly Valley and beyond). He used to say: "It is not important what you do, it is important what you blog about".

    The modern version of this looks like "It is not important what you do, it is important what you tweet about".

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

    Hitler had better hair.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

      No worries, someone will introduce Trump to hair gel sooner or later.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

        Or at least a better toupee

    2. handleoclast
      Alert

      Re: I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

      I think there's a more significant difference.

      There is no record that Trump has ever had a pet cat or dog. Hitler loved dogs.

      Psychopaths, as kids, often start out by torturing animals because they have no empathy for animals or people (and if you're a psychopathic kid it's easier to start with animals). Hitler at least had empathy for some living beings other than himself. Or was smart enough to fake it.

      BTW, Trump wants to relax/remove FDA regulation of both pet food and people food. Before anybody asks, the US Food and Drug Administration DOES regulate pet food (for now).

      I've just realized the scary, scary path my thoughts are taking. Months ago I decided Nixon was better than Trump (at least Nixon created the EPA, rather than trying to demolish it). Weeks ago I decided Dubya was better than Trump (it took 9 months before the full extent of Dubya's incompetence became known). And now I've just pointed out one respect in which Hitler was better than Trump. Who next? Attila the hun?

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. Montreal Sean

        Re: I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

        Attila the Hun had a firm grasp of military strategy, and a clear plan of action when it came to what he wanted to achieve.

        Attila probably didn't lie, and then lie about lying either.

        I'm not sure the same can be said of Trump.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

          Also, if a guy jumped up on stage at an Attila The Hun For President rally, I would bet you that old Attila would not go scurrying behind the security guards in fear for his toupee.

          This Republican "Party" is really quite the scene, man! More of the same, please! I like watching idiots who stand around waving flags and patting each other on the back, fall apart in a mess of in-action and processes with zero thought behind them, other than; how much money will this get me?

          Here's how to fix the USA:

          1) Destroy the Republican Party

          2) Destroy the Democratic Party

          3) Get some leaders who can divorce all the money machine shit from the actual working functions of our government

          4) More of the same

          As you can see, we are well behind on step 1, and will have to wait for it to complete, before we can accomplish step 2. If you are still thinking we are a two party system, you are a idiot. And probably a child molester. :P

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            The good news is

            With the whole DNC helping Hillary over Bernie thing, and the generally incompetent campaign she ran (help from the Russians notwithstanding) the democrats are already on their way to destroying themselves.

            With yesterday's testimony in the Senate intelligence committee that Russia interfered even in the republican primary in Trump's favor things are not looking good for the republicans either. I have to think that those republicans who were blase about the idea the Russians helped Trump beat Hillary because that's the outcome they wanted will be less sanguine about it if it turns out they helped him beat the primary candidate they supported and felt would have made a much better president than Trump. Not to mention the whole "we can't even govern when we control everything" failure to keep their signature campaign promise of repealing Obamacare, the republican party is on their way to destroying themselves.

            The bad news is that the US system is built so much around a two party system, it isn't as if the Libertarians, the Greens or some new party can spring up to fill the vacuum. It is basically built into the system in most states that a party called "the republican party" and a party called "the democratic party" have special rights and privileges in elections, so no matter how destroyed they are at a national level, whoever is left behind the steering wheel in the various states will still be under control. They might have a lot more trouble reaching national unity though. That would be an especially big change for the republican party, who have been so homogeneous in their platforms with litmus tests on a whole laundry list of things before you can 'qualify' as a republican.

          2. Filippo Silver badge

            Re: I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

            Won't work. If you somehow destroyed both major parties, they would be replaced by something absolutely identical at the first election. Maybe at the second election, but not later than that. There are reasons the winning parties are what they are; they are neither insane nor aliens. Nothing will change much until those reasons are somehow addressed.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              @Filippo - 'replaced by something absolutely identical'....I think not

              Not sure why you think that. Parties have changed positions over the years. Prior to WW II, the republican party was very isolationist and very much against increases in military spending. They did not support the US getting involved in WW II by helping the British or Chinese against their respective foes. While the democratic party wasn't exactly the opposite, they were not nearly so isolationist and mostly supported increased military spending and military aid for those fighting the Axis powers.

              By the 80s, the republican party was very much for increases in military spending and pro engagement in the world, while the democrats mostly did not support increased military spending and had a large anti-war contingent thanks to the failure of the Vietnam war which they were mostly responsible for getting the US embroiled in.

              It wasn't until the 60s that the republican party started to actively court what is now known as the "religious right" and completely dictates their social policy platform.

              One can even look today, and the positions Trump campaigned on to find a few that are widely divergent from that of republicans even two years ago. Republicans have long been in favor of free trade agreements like NAFTA and TPP, but Trump has if not completely changed their direction at least has a large rudder in the water making a U-turn. They were always the more anti-communist party, and even after the USSR fell have remained highly suspicious of Russia and their motives. Trump treats them like his best friends, and while he will openly criticize the leaders of long time allies like the UK, France and Germany, he has never said anything bad about Russia or its leader.

              So I'm not sure why you think that if the two parties had their national structure effectively undone for an election cycle or two that they would emerge with the same positions. The 'new' republican party might end up as anti-free trade, or even isolationist. If the party fractured on a national level and it was left to state organizations to build it back up again, look at which states are the biggest, and their social views versus current party platforms? It might not follow the religious right quite so much in things like gay marriage and transgender rights - after all, where are those social conservatives going to go, the democratic party?

              Likewise the democrats may turn back the clock on the changes Bill Clinton made to the party in the 90s by supporting free trade and Wall Street and return to the more populist positions on those issues they held prior to Clinton's presidency that Bernie was pretty successfully campaigning on. There has been some grassroots movements in some states for democrats to try to include the so-called "religious left" who have been largely absent from politics, by framing issues of helping the less fortunate in society with religious messages like "what would Jesus do?"

          3. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

            1) Destroy the Republican Party

            2) Destroy the Democratic Party

            That should be undertaken simultaneously, that way neither of them get final control. If you did it in the order you outline you would never get to your option 3) and the country would end up like Russia in the 60s only on steroids.

          4. Remy Redert

            Re: I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

            Unfortunately, you are missing a vital step towards ensuring a new US government remains sane. The US needs to step out of the 2 party state system and First Past The Post voting and switch to a better democracy by using proportional representation. As a bonus, this also makes gerrymandering a moot point as votes will be totalled on the national level.

            1. P. Lee

              Re: I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

              >The US needs to step out of the 2 party state system and First Past The Post voting and switch to a better democracy by using proportional representation.

              You mean, like the Weimar republic?

              I think we actually need both. We need FPtP to maintain local representation and accountability and we need PR to help break the two party system that tends to result from FPtP. Do a 50/50 split. That allows smaller parties to build up support without voters feeling their vote is "wasted" but at the same time allows the larger parties to over-ride the really small fringe interests and get things done.

        2. Voland's right hand Silver badge

          Re: I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

          Attila the Hun had a firm grasp of military strategy, and a clear plan of action when it came to what he wanted to achieve.

          Took the words out of my mouth.

          The next one is Koba. Иосиф Виссарионович Джугашвилли. Joseph Stalin.

          1. This post has been deleted by its author

          2. Pompous Git Silver badge

            @ Voland's right hand

            Судья выходит из своих палат, смеясь. Коллега подходит к нему и спрашивает, почему он смеется. «Я только что услышал смешную шутку в мире!» «Ну, давай, скажи мне!» Говорит другой судья. «Я не могу - я просто дал кому-то десять лет на это!»

      3. Pompous Git Silver badge

        Re: I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

        "Hitler loved dogs."
        Eva Braun was not a dog. The dog is on the right...

        Eva, hubby and dogs

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

      I don't like this person, they're obviously the same as a genocidal dictator who set half the world on fire and ordered the slaughter of millions in the name of racial purity.

      1. Ben Tasker

        Re: I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

        He didn't say Trump is the same as Hitler.

        He said that Hitler had at least one redeeming quality more than Trump, do pay attention.....

        In all seriousness, though, Trump's a twat but he isn't the same as Hitler. However, that doesn't automatically mean that he never will be, Hitler didn't come to power yelling that they should gas the Jews. Having someone unstable in power should always raise a few concerns before you get to the point that they turn out to be fucking insane.

        So, no Trump's not the same as Hitler, but that doesn't mean it isn't important to take the lessons learned and use them to keep an eye on Trump (and May, and every other leader)

    4. itzman

      Re: I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

      Trump isn't an animal loving vegan.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

      Frankly, he looks more like Mussolini. A presumptuous, incompetent buffoon. With a circus of presumptuous, incompetent buffoons around him. And a presumptuous son-in-law aiming for grandeur

      And after all, Mussolini programme was 'make Italy great again' too...

      1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

        Re: I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

        Frankly, he looks more like Mussolini. A presumptuous, incompetent buffoon.

        No. You missed one important adjective. Vindictive.

        Mussolini did not hold multi-year grudges. That was Joseph Stalin's speciality.

        As an example, he waited for the whole war to end to pay back to Admiral Kuznetsov who told him to f*ck off on the 21st of June. Kuznetsov put the fleet and fleet aviation on red alert resulting in them taking virtually no losses when the war broke out and giving the Luftwaffe a nice bloody nose above the sky of both Odessa and Riga which were under fleet, not central command. Their performance was the only bright spot in the first 3 months of the war. Stalin did nothing to him for breaking rank. For 5 years. Then after the war he demoted him and terminated the whole fleet renovation program.

        That is just one example - one can write a whole book of them.

        That type of personality is closer to what we see in the Orange One.

      2. Hollerithevo

        Re: I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

        @LDS, yes, I've been thinking Mussolini for a while. A blowhard who knew how to whip up audiences, but really (including all the false claim that he made the trains run on time) incompetent and corrupt.

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Black Helicopters

      Re: I'd equate Trump to Hitler but...

      Putin is Hitler.

      Trump is Mussolini - a fat, incompetent dictator with delusions of world domination.

      Mrs May is of course Stalin - working of 100% surveillance of her own citizens - because she thinks they are all out to get her.

      Still working on who is Mao - answers on a postcard please.......

  3. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    What if the absence of net neutrality were to result in his tweets getting lost somewhere in the intertubes?

    1. Hollerithevo

      Ooooo, Dr S...

      You tempt me!

  4. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

    President Swoop and Poop

    I figured Trump would delegate everything to a bunch billionaires and plunge the US into years of depression, social conflict, and global economic sanctions. Somehow, he's on target to be worse than that.

    1. Black Rat
      Devil

      Re: President Swoop and Poop

      Don't worry soon the British will retake the colonies and sort the mess out.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: President Swoop and Poop

        Brentry.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: President Swoop and Poop

        Don't worry soon the British will retake the colonies and sort the mess out.

        I sure hope you learned your lesson and will give us representation before you make us subject to IR35.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: President Swoop and Poop

        Will anyone want it by the time he's finished?

    2. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Devil

      Re: President Swoop and Poop

      "plunge the US into years of depression, social conflict, and global economic sanctions"

      In 3+ years, once Trump's agenda REALLY starts to kick in, how would you like your crow, sir? I suggest deep-fried with KFC dipping sauce.

      I see more parallels between Trump and Ronald Reagan than I do with any other world leader. The main difference between Trump and Reagan is who their political enemies are. It seems Trump has to fight Republicans as well as Democrats. Well, when you hire a consultant to go into a company and clean it up, nobody really likes the guy until he's done fixing things.

      As for 'net neutrality', the way it's being defined is COMPLETELY bogus. Getting rid of the Obaka FCC's definition, which basically dumbs ALL traffic down to an "equal" mediocrity, and allowing PRIORITIZATION (at a cost, naturally) of "certain traffic", can only help in the long run. [Of course the rules would have to prevent high-pri traffic from congesting out the rest, but that's what debate is for]. In the long run, having Netflix "pay extra" to deliver your movies allows providers to purchase upgraded gear to HANDLE that extra traffic. And so the entire system improves. That's how _I_ see it.

      So "GO TRUMP!" when it comes to GETTING! RID! OF! THOSE! ROTTEN! REGULATIONS!, and let's allow the FREE MARKET to determine how to fix things. THAT is what _I_ want!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: President Swoop and Poop

        Wow, you really have your blinders on if you think he's like Reagan. Reagan had governing experience, knew how to work the politics to make deals (instead of Trump who can only make wussy little Twitter threats against the Freedom Caucus when he doesn't his way) and tried (and succeeded) to beat the Russians instead of playing kissy face with them.

        Ignoring political views, Trump is so far from Reagan as a man that Obama is easily closer! I guess you were so ready for a republican to be in the White House that you are willing to support even an orange-faced snowflake who probably has a 50/50 chance of impeachment before his term is up. But no matter, I'm sure you'll be fine with President Pence and claim the reason you supported Trump was only to get him.

      2. veti Silver badge

        Re: President Swoop and Poop

        Trump is the anti-Reagan. His signature policy is to undo everything that Reagan accomplished.

        NAFTA was Ronald Reagan's initiative. Reagan believed firmly in free trade, he thought that American workers and American companies could compete on a level playing field, and the discipline would make them better for it. That's diametrically opposite to what Trump believes, which is that American workers are incapable of surviving either change or competition.

        Reagan passed the Emergency Medical Treatment Act, entitling anyone, regardless of insurance, citizenship or anything else, to free emergency treatment at (effectively) any public hospital.

        Reagan believed in truth and democracy. No Reagan aid ever coined the phrase "alternative facts". Nor did they perpetually accuse the media of lying. When Reagan was caught out (e.g. Iran-Contra), he put his hands up and said "You got me".

        Reagan oversaw the end of the Cold War and the dismantling of the Russian empire and one-party state. Trump is doing his damnedest to reverse all of that.

        Reagan introduced the (current form of) the Alternative Minimum Tax, which Trump wants to abolish.

        Under Reagan, the number of people living in the US who were born in Mexico - doubled. 'Nuff said.

        Reagan signed the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and pressed for further treaties that the Donald has decried as a "bad deal".

      3. Hollerithevo

        Re: President Swoop and Poop

        So... now he has three years? I thought he was going to do all of this at once. Is he a strong leader with all of Congress his own party? Has he promised immediate action across a range of promises? And now we are expected to wait? When oh when do we get to the promised land??

        The free market is great for many things, but Adam Smith was clear that it always needed Government regulation. Read a bit about, oh, food safety, the development and spread of the electrical grid in the USA and so on to see how companies fight against regulation to maximise their profits even in the face of diabolically poor customer service. Sometimes consumers can't use their buying power to stop evil -- because the big companies close ranks. Adam Smith again: free markets lead inexorably to monopolies.

  5. Crazy Operations Guy

    "commitment towards offering today's entrepreneurs the same opportunities"

    That's the thing, he only cares about making his rich friends richer. And that is what the Republican party is about, it's not making more companies successful its about making already successful companies better capable of crushing their smaller rivals.

  6. Ole Juul

    Someone tell these guys.

    There really is a difference between business strategy and democracy.

    1. mstreet
      Devil

      Re: Someone tell these guys.

      Maybe its time we all stopped pretending democracy and capitalism can coexist.

  7. Mark 85

    I guess I missed the memo about the concept of "government of the people, by the people, for the people," was changed somewhere to "government of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations,".

    1. tom dial Silver badge

      Re: "Government of the people ..."

      Like it or not, and I am far from thrilled at the outcome, Donald Trump was the choice of a majority of those who voted in 21 of the 50 states, and of a plurality of those who voted in an additional 7 states. Nearly all Senators and US House members were elected in their states and districts, respectively, by a majority of those who chose to vote. So also were the state governors, secretaries of state, senators, representatives, and so on who determined the electoral districts from which US House members (as well as the state representatives and senators) were chosen. By the rules operational for the last 225 years, that counts as "by the people" and "of the people." Whether or not it is "for the people" is for the people to decide at the next election.

  8. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

    I suspect...

    ...that Trump has no inkling of what net neutrality actually means, but since it was something Obama did, it must be bad and anti-making-companies-richer

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I suspect...

      since it was something Obama did, it must be bad and anti-making-companies-richer

      Which is, lets face it, a very good value for money algorithm, and likely to be correct about 97% of the time.

    2. veti Silver badge

      Re: I suspect...

      I suspect that what we're seeing is a ritual cleansing of the United States, to remove the 'taint' of Obama from the land. Everything Obama did must be reversed - not because it was particularly bad, but simply because he was the one that did it.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    if you want to help protect NN you should support groups like ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Free Press who are fighting to keep Net Neutrality.

    https://www.aclu.org/

    https://www.eff.org/

    https://www.freepress.net/

    https://www.fightforthefuture.org/

    https://www.publicknowledge.org/

    https://demandprogress.org/

    also you can set them as your charity on https://smile.amazon.com/

    also write to your House Representative and senators

    http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

    https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?OrderBy=state

    and the FCC

    https://www.fcc.gov/about/contact

  10. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge
    Trollface

    Net Neutrality

    Invented by the lying failing @nytimes to hide how bigly Democrats failed in their election loss. Watch @foxandfriends. So sad!

  11. Frumious Bandersnatch
    Stop

    "You're just a forum troll - why even bother picking an icon?"

    What the hell is that message (plus all icons set to trollface) all about?

    1. Frumious Bandersnatch
      Thumb Up

      Re: "You're just a forum troll - why even bother picking an icon?"

      Ahh. I have seen the light, and ze goggles, zey do nothing!!!

      1. Stoneshop
        Go

        Re: "You're just a forum troll - why even bother picking an icon?"

        Ahh. I have seen the light,

        s/light/date/ , is it?

    2. tfewster
      Facepalm

      Re: "You're just a forum troll - why even bother picking an icon?"

      Ah, not just me then. With multiple browsers, logged in/out, noscript blocking/not blocking. I emailed El Reg about it.

      Rule 1: Don't push changes on a Friday

      <You'll have to imagine the "D'oh!" icon --->

      1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: "You're just a forum troll - why even bother picking an icon?"

        "Rule 1: Don't push changes on a Friday"

        Why ever not? You get a whole weekend before you have to sort them out.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Right now

    I'd rather have Obama's socks in charge.

    The Trump moron is dangerous and stupid.

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

      Re: Right now

      Trump, turning Dr Strangelove into reality.

      This time we are doomed.

  13. hammarbtyp

    Its getting like April the 1st should be the one day of Sanity, because it feels like the other 364 have turned into the joke

  14. Trollslayer
    Flame

    This explains it

    "which make it illegal for companies to discriminate ".

    1. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Devil

      Re: This explains it

      that's an interpretation, not an explanation. 'discriminate' is used because it carries the connotation of things *LIKE* racial discrimination, which everybody hates. No such "discriminatory packet filtering" happens (assuming "by content" discrimination) anyway. Any ISP that did that would be dropped by its customers. Except in China, where that happens all the time (i.e. "the great firewall") and probably in Russia and Saudi Arabia, too.

      1. Hollerithevo

        Re: This explains it

        How can customers drop a supplier when often that supplier is the only game in town, having lobbied/bribed the Powers That Be in the state to be given a monopoly? There are instances of local communities doing their own thing or forming coops and the telecoms come in and crush them, with the state legislators backing them (and either getting a pat on the back or money in their pockets or both from the companies).

        I am all for a free market when there's a level playing field, but in the USA the huge companies have tilted the whole tectonic plate.

  15. Trey Pattillo

    Missing the point....

    amazing how everyone on both sides of the pond/aisle are missing The Real Point (tm) #1.

    1) Erase Obama from all history -- President #44 will read "Illegitimate Kenyan".

    2) Finish gerrymandering all voting district so no one other than R's can every win.

    This completes the 20+ year project. Note maps are onlines.

    3) Install white supremist neo-nazi authoritarian administration to stop any takeover.

    4) more to this list than space....

    1. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Devil

      Re: Missing the point....

      Erase Obama from all history -- President #44 will read "Illegitimate Kenyan".

      wishful thinking, yeah, like blotting out or mangling his 'cartouche' wherever it appears [Egyptians would do this on occasion].

      I'd rather leave it as an example of what _NOT_ to do.

      1. Hollerithevo

        Re: Missing the point....

        I wish I would live long enough to see the judgement of history.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I seriously don't care

    Democrats only care because this gives them an excuse to create yet another regulation. Please Trump, do away with net neutrality, it is a bunch of FUD and I am confident I won't be impacted by it.

    As for invoking Godwin's law within 2 posts, this place is predictable as ever.

  17. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Unhappy

    On the upside

    1389 day left to go*

    *Barring death, serious injury or a much better organized impeachment campaign than we've seen so far.

    1. rcorrect

      Re: On the upside

      >1389 day left to go

      4 years?

      http://www.ultraimg.com/image/0lzC

  18. jason 7

    What happens when the 1% has all the money?

    Don't they realise the top 1% of the 1% will start to leach off the remaining 99% of the 1%.

    Trump isn't in that top 1% of the 1%.

    1. dbayly

      Re: What happens when the 1% has all the money?

      Trump isn't in that top 1% of the 1%.

      Not yet he isn't. Give him some time

      1. bobbear
        Facepalm

        Re: What happens when the 1% has all the money?

        For a six times chapter 11 bankrupt, (sorry - fake news! - reorganisations!..), it's going to more time than the fat guy with the weird haircut's got, I think... Probably the US will file for c11 bankruptcy first.

    2. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Devil

      Re: What happens when the 1% has all the money?

      I think you are assuming that rich people aren't going to buy things with their money, that they fill a vault and dive into it like Scrooge McDuck or something. Rich people BUY THINGS and HIRE PEOPLE, and boost the economy and probably help YOU to keep your job. After all, you don't go to a POOR PERSON when you're looking for work or need investors for your company.

      obligatory negative comment about rich asshats like George Soros who (unlike most rich people) step on other people to get ahead [like currency manipulation], and use their ill-gotten gains for evil purposes [like paid demonstrators/rioters and moveon.org].

      (didn't Soros contribute heavily to Mrs. Clinton? Isn't he _WORSE_ than The Russians? And what about the Clinton foundation these days? Just sayin')

      1. John Smith 19 Gold badge

        "Rich people BUY THINGS and HIRE PEOPLE, "

        Otherwise known as the "Trickle down theory"

        Otherwise known as US foreign policy in South America.

        I'd suggest why not just stop making the rich richer and have a go at making the poor a bit richer.

        But that's probably a bit too complex an idea for you on a Monday morning.

      2. Hollerithevo

        Re: What happens when the 1% has all the money?

        They take their money off-shore. They create jobs off-shore. They pay as little as possible for everything they can get. They use their money to buy politicians and to suppress anything (e.g. safety and pollution laws) that will hinder the maximising of their profits and the minimising of their taxes.

        If the millionaires and billionaires (and the companies they run) paid their fair, proportionate share, the USA (indeed all countries) would see increased prosperity, because people would have living wages and the government would have enough money for proper investment in the national infrastructure.

        And Mr Soros: why is it bad for him to support Mrs Clinton when it is OK for the Koch Brothers etc etc to support Republican candidates? If they do it, it's OK, if he does it, it's evil incarnate? I really don't get it.

      3. Androgynous Cow Herd

        Re: What happens when the 1% has all the money?

        "Trickle Down" does NOT work. The theory that if you give the rich people money they will spend it and therefore add fuel to the economy has never been borne out in reality. One family will only buy so many houses, cars, washing machines, gold toilets, etc, and the wealthy tend to NOT buy those things in neighborhoods that really could use economic health.

    3. veti Silver badge

      Re: What happens when the 1% has all the money?

      I'm pretty sure that the whole reason Trump ran was to catapult himself into that "top 1% of the top 1%" club.

      So far it's working fine. The tributes - to the Trump name and family, not to America - have been rolling in from China, Mexico, and everywhere else he's targeted.

      When Mubarak was finally forced out of Egypt, his family's net worth was estimated at 15% of the country's entire GDP. Trump won't have that long, but I think he's got his sights set on "at least 5%".

  19. John Deeb

    Beyond all the hysterics:

    During most of the successful history of the Internet, there has not been any formalized government upheld net neutrality regulation. It's unclear why people start screaming now about it. As if they would not have any consumer choice to select the company that would fit their sense of balance or fairness. As if free speech is on the line which is a case that cannot be made at all in this context at all (see eg https://hbr.org/2017/03/the-tangled-web-of-net-neutrality-and-regulation).

    The Register is right, this "undoing" of Obama's regulation is near meaningless and mostly symbolic but I'd add that it's in line with the overall "conservative" principle of undoing any overbearing government regulation, nannying or interference in the market place. For the best of the worst. And frankly, nobody can be *sure* things will go to pieces. That's probably the modern hysteria "about all things" crying out again. If history is any indication, the Internet will t do fine either way as it will just adapt.

    1. Mephistro
      Unhappy

      @ John Deeb

      "As if they would not have any consumer choice to select the company that would fit their sense of balance or fairness"

      You'd be totally right, where it not for the fact that most of the US population is under a monopoly/oligopoly regime of broadband providers. If NN dies, consumers will only be able to choose between shit with garlic and shit with onion.

  20. Snipp

    Just a notion...

    Since we, as Americans, elected a Certified (yes, this is a formal, legal qualification) Ignoramus to the highest office in the land, do you Limeys assume the lot of us are prattling cattle with a low ceiling of rationalism?

    1. bobbear
      Happy

      Re: Just a notion...

      Not at all - just c.50% of you esteemed colonials... (& falling all the time...)

      Please ditch Chump and come back into the fold - all is forgiven. No tax on tea this time. Just think how great we could be together!

    2. John Smith 19 Gold badge
      Unhappy

      "do you Limeys assume the lot of us are prattling cattle with a low ceiling of rationalism?"

      I can't speak for the British but I think it's just enough of the US population who voted for him and didn't vote for a better candidate.

      Actually if there's anyone to blame it's everyone who read "Take Back Your Government" and failed to join their local parties and weed out most of the potential candidates for being rubbish.

  21. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Or maybe Roswell is real

    It may also detract from yet another revelation over the administration's ties to Russia and the resulting Congressional investigations.

    Can someone remind me of the other "revelations" over "ties to Russia"?

    "Pissing on Obama's bed in a russian hotel" as "revealed" by a compilate of 4chan fantasies doesn't count.

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