Five ways to cripple the FCC

In recent years, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has written sweeping regulations based on little more than well-crafted narratives while ignoring the cornerstones of good regulation: independence, evidence and analysis. It has made the regulatory process an “economics-free zone,” writing regulations in the dark and ignoring warnings of unintended consequences. It has intervened in markets without any evidence of market failure or consumer harm. How is it that a major regulatory agency — one that once provided substantive advice to the rest of the world on how an independent agency should function — seems to have lost its way? It has had a lot of help. In case someone wants to destroy the credibility and effectiveness of an independent agency in the future, here are five ways to do it.

Read “5 ways to cripple the FCC” on AEI.