Summary
1. Regardless of one’s views on federal government intervention in telecom, the vast majority of the people in the sector are looking forward to the industry taking advantage of the stimulus package. 2. However, the idea that abuse, mismanagement, and waste can be substantially eliminated is a pipe dream. 3. In addition, very few government entities have a good track record of “distribut[ing...funds effectively and fairly, and...hold[ing] grantees accountable."
Analysis
“[With the potential for] more than 10,000 applications for funding”, there is no way to even come close to getting “clear objectives for grantees.” How is it even humanly possible “to have programs that are going to be funded from all different shapes and sizes...to meet the same goals?” The distribution will be determined by political considerations and not “job creation” nor the biggest bang for the buck. In the past, the Universal Service Fund has not had “effective oversight,” and despite the best intentions of the bureaucrats involved with these stimulus funds, history will repeat itself.
Except unlike what happened previously with the USF and the RUS, there will be much more attention on the stimulus funds. The politicians will arbitrarily toss conditions that must be met by the recipients – possibly even retroactively. As a previous CNET news article pointed out, there will be attempts at attaching “net neutrality” regulation to the money. Such actions will only delay the ability of the government to hand out the funds.
