dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
view:
topics flat nest 
Comments on news posted 2013-05-21 08:07:38: Bloomberg reports that freshly-nominated FCC boss Tom Wheeler has dumped around $500,000 to $1 million in AT&T and Verizon stock ahead of his assignment at the FCC. ..

page: 1 · 2 · next

ITALIAN926
join:2003-08-16

ITALIAN926

Member

mmm

The fact that Verizon is up over 30% since the beginning of the year mustve played a small role as well

guppy_fish
Premium Member
join:2003-12-09
Palm Harbor, FL

guppy_fish

Premium Member

Must have been tough

Selling at all-time high for most of the stocks, that was some sacrifice to pay
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9 to ITALIAN926

Premium Member

to ITALIAN926

Re: mmm

VZ is up ~19% YTD excluding dividends. It's worth more to hold VZ than sell it, so I'm sure the conflict of interest was the primary motivation to close his position.
slckusr
Premium Member
join:2003-03-17
Greenville, SC

slckusr to guppy_fish

Premium Member

to guppy_fish

Re: Must have been tough

said by guppy_fish:

Selling at all-time high for most of the stocks, that was some sacrifice to pay

Its for the greater good, after his role at the FCC is done, he will get paid some fat consulting cash.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5 to openbox9

Premium Member

to openbox9

Re: mmm

said by openbox9:

VZ is up ~19% YTD excluding dividends. It's worth more to hold VZ than sell it, so I'm sure the conflict of interest was the primary motivation to close his position.

I agree. Even when someone does the right thing, there will be those who see evil motivation in anything done by those they oppose.

skeechan
Ai Otsukaholic
Premium Member
join:2012-01-26
AA169|170

1 recommendation

skeechan

Premium Member

Got to dump old conflicts of interest to build the new ones

Now AT&T and VZ will simply have to wink-wink him a post appointment job.
skeechan

2 recommendations

skeechan to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5

Re: mmm

The right thing to do would be to refuse the appointment based on his lobbying history.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9

Premium Member

Why? If he discloses everything and no longer has ties, why should he no accept the appointment? Perhaps the better question would be to ask why is he being appointed?

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

said by openbox9:

Why? If he discloses everything and no longer has ties, why should he no accept the appointment? Perhaps the better question would be to ask why is he being appointed?

Because he gave lots of money to Obama and supported his presidential runs. The same reason every person appointed by the president.

skeechan
Ai Otsukaholic
Premium Member
join:2012-01-26
AA169|170

1 recommendation

skeechan to openbox9

Premium Member

to openbox9
No longer has ties? Laughable. He has a future in the industry to protect. He was hip to hip with the industry before, will be during and most assuredly will after. But that future career depends on him playing ball now.
rmdir
join:2003-03-13
Chicago, IL

rmdir

Member

In that case...

Does this mean he'll return all the money he made when he whored himself as a lobbyist "to resolve possible conflicts of interest"?
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

1 recommendation

openbox9 to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5

Re: mmm

Bingo. The problems of our troubled government roll down from the top. Until accountability is restored, nothing is going to change. And that isn't going to happen anytime soon.

skeechan
Ai Otsukaholic
Premium Member
join:2012-01-26
AA169|170

skeechan

Premium Member

He can't control whether or not he was appointed by the most corrupt administration in the history of history but he can control whether or not he takes the job.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

1 recommendation

openbox9 to skeechan

Premium Member

to skeechan
Ok, I don't dispute any of that. My point is that he is disclosing everything. If he's found to not be disclosing everything, he could be found in contempt and punished appropriately. He'll also be sworn into office if confirmed. If he doesn't abide by his sworn oath, he can once again be held accountable. Of course, none of this matters, because as you've suggested in our other thread, the punishments for allowing the status quo to continue are negligible. Until we actually vote for change, and not just for some slogan claiming as such, we can continue to expect more of the same.

BTW, if the president asked you who should he nominate, who would you recommend to him?
openbox9

openbox9 to rmdir

Premium Member

to rmdir

Re: In that case...

No, because those business transactions are already history.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5 to skeechan

Premium Member

to skeechan

Re: mmm

said by skeechan:

No longer has ties? Laughable. He has a future in the industry to protect.

Very unlikely. He is retirement age. This job was a nice plum to cap his working life and a thank you from Obama for all of Wheeler's help in 2 presidential runs.. He isn't like Genachowski, who has decades of work ahead yet.

At 67, he will be a shade older than the first and oldest FCC chairman
, Eugene Sykes, and twice the age of the youngest, E. William Henry, who was appointed by President Kennedy in 1963.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9 to skeechan

Premium Member

to skeechan
He's not appointed until confirmed, but I understand your point.
Skippy25
join:2000-09-13
Hazelwood, MO

Skippy25 to FFH5

Member

to FFH5
Overpaid "consultants and lobbyist" can work well into their 80's.
Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA

Sammer to skeechan

Member

to skeechan

Re: Got to dump old conflicts of interest to build the new ones

You got that right, the real conflicts of interest don't show up until the FCC Commissioners leave. The Wheeler appointment looks like regulatory capture to me but hopefully I'm wrong.

PacaW97
@qwest.net

PacaW97

Anon

Revolving Door

In our face is the reality of the corporate > government > corporate revolving door. I suspect we'll see much of the same from this commissioner as we have from say Micheal Powell or any other former member of government agencies. They will go in, deregulate or repeal some rules in favor of the companies or lobbies they've done business with, finish out their term, then be handily rewarded and go to work for those very companies with fat compensation for their work done.

I don't know what more I can say. I've written my members on congress on this, they haven't responded nor can I expect them to. After all I'm not directly paying for their election campaigns... and can't offer them lucrative compensation for selling out the American consumer.

What can we do that actionable, that's real, that has teeth?

Anonymous_
Anonymous
Premium Member
join:2004-06-21
127.0.0.1

1 edit

Anonymous_ to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5

Re: mmm

said by FFH5:

said by openbox9:

Why? If he discloses everything and no longer has ties, why should he no accept the appointment? Perhaps the better question would be to ask why is he being appointed?

Because he gave lots of money to Obama and supported his presidential runs. The same reason every person appointed by the president.

yes we have not had real president since the 60's.

Sure most of the newer presidents, have never read the US Constitution. If they did we would not have some phony baloney laws.

it's like clicking accept with out read it.

US used to be for the people by the people.

now in the age it's by big corp for big corp.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK

KrK

Premium Member

Sold his stock? Obviously impartial.... snort

Yeah, I'm sure he's completely objective now. Wonder which one will hire him as a consultant when his revolving door tenure is up?
KrK

KrK to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5

Re: mmm

Where do you think that money came from, and why was it "given"?

The puppeteers now await their massive return for their "investment".

Impartial, objective...... indeed. He'll be a good little toadie, I'm sure.
Rekrul
join:2007-04-21
Milford, CT

Rekrul to openbox9

Member

to openbox9
said by openbox9:

Why? If he discloses everything and no longer has ties, why should he no accept the appointment?

Because even if (and that's a big if) he intends to be impartial, the years he spent lobbying for the industry has to have left an impression on him.

He worked in one particular industry for many years and now he's taking a job where his entire purpose is to basically do the opposite of what he used to do. How can there not be a conflict of interest?
rmdir
join:2003-03-13
Chicago, IL

rmdir to openbox9

Member

to openbox9

Re: In that case...

But the feelings of indebtedness aren't.
sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH

2 recommendations

sonicmerlin to FFH5

Member

to FFH5

Re: mmm

said by FFH5:

said by skeechan:

No longer has ties? Laughable. He has a future in the industry to protect.

Very unlikely. He is retirement age. This job was a nice plum to cap his working life and a thank you from Obama for all of Wheeler's help in 2 presidential runs.. He isn't like Genachowski, who has decades of work ahead yet.

At 67, he will be a shade older than the first and oldest FCC chairman
, Eugene Sykes, and twice the age of the youngest, E. William Henry, who was appointed by President Kennedy in 1963.

This guy supported the AT&T and t-mobile merger. That's all anyone really needs to know about him.
old_wiz_60
join:2005-06-03
Bedford, MA

1 recommendation

old_wiz_60

Member

Dumped his stock?

meaning..gave it to his wife? brother?...

This guy is a telco/cableco lobbyist at heart and won't give a rats tushie for the rights of consumers. It will be a huge gift to the telcos/cablecos when he takes over.

And how much money is he getting under the table or in residuals from the cable/telcos?

He's nothing but a paid lobbyist who managed to become head of the FCC via bribes and dirty tricks.

trparky
Premium Member
join:2000-05-24
Cleveland, OH
·AT&T U-Verse

1 recommendation

trparky to openbox9

Premium Member

to openbox9

Re: mmm

I'd have to say that just about anyone from the editorial staff of this web site would be a good candidate. At the risk of being called a DSLReports/BroadbandReports.com fanboy, Karl Bode would be a good choice.

We need someone who equally hates the communications companies of the US. Someone who will basically call "bullshit" on anything the big companies try to say. So far, Karl Bode seems to fit the bill.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9 to rmdir

Premium Member

to rmdir

Re: In that case...

Conjecture
openbox9

openbox9 to KrK

Premium Member

to KrK

Re: Sold his stock? Obviously impartial.... snort

Hey may have many conflicts of interest. This was one that he mitigated. There's a reason why he's required by law to disclose such potential conflicts.
page: 1 · 2 · next