Deregulation

WikiLeaks published a previously tightly-held and secretive draft of a trade document on Thursday that, if enacted, would give the world's financial powers an even more dominant position to control the global economy by avoiding regulations and public accountability.

In 1999, the Texas Legislature deregulated electric companies in certain areas of Texas, promising that this would lower rates for consumers. However, it appears that this promise was not entirely accurate. According to the report, "Texans living in deregulated electricity areas paid about $22 billion more in the last decade than they would have under a regulated system."

It was bad enough that Dodd-Frank under-protected the American public from predatory big banking, but Senators are now trying to further weaken the legislation and even make its existence completely moot. The Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act of 2013 is the latest bill that shifts the government's role as protector of the people to protector of the powerful.

Sick and tired of slow service and high rates, more than 100 communities have taken initiative and built their own community networks. This is the story of Wilson, North Carolina. This small city built Greenlight, a next-generation fiber-optic broadband network that runs circles around the private sector competition.