To: Tom Wheeler, FCC Chairman, Mignon Clyburn, FCC Commissioner, Jessica Rosenworcel, FCC Commissioner, Ajit Pai, FCC Commissioner, Michael O'Rielly, FCC Commissioner, President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and T...

FCC & Congress: Get Americans Working Again

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has said that having sufficient unlicensed spectrum (e.g. Wifi) will be key to American innovation and global competitiveness. President Obama, Congress, and the FCC please free up the unlicensed spectrum and get Americans working again.

Why is this important?

In 1987, I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and started to work for IBM. In that time I have seen the divide between the digital haves and have nots grow wider and wider. Much of this division is a result of government policies for the benefit of large corporations. Over the last twenty years, the Fortune 500 has been responsible for a net loss in jobs. And according to Peter Denning of the Naval Postgraduate School, the overall success rate of innovation initiatives in American business is around 4%. Up to now, instead of ensuring that everyone in America can compete in a global economy, instead of narrowing the divide between rich and poor, instead of supporting competitive free markets for American inventions that use information—instead, that is, of ensuring that America will lead the world in the information age—U.S. politicians have chosen to keep AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and its fellow giants happy. Let's begin to change the status quo, free up the unlicensed spectrum and get Americans working again.