What Passes for Wisdom in Washington

Of these two pictures which one do you trust more? (Note the one on the right is a Member of Congress) Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass) today commented at a hearing that he does not like the deal on the iPhone which restricts its' use to one network, AT&T.  Mr. Markey, who should get the gem of the week said "You're stuck with your iPhone and you can't take it anywhere."  

I have two responses to his comments.  First, if you extended his logic to, for example, the auto industry he should logically lambast Chevrolet because you can't get a Jaguar logo on their cars.  You can't even get a Ford engine in their models.  (I realize that with globalization some wags might suggest you cannot get a Jaguar engine in a Jaguar - but that is another story.)  Cellular customers have a wide range of choices.   Apple developed the iPhone with features and if you want those features you use the network they chose.   At some point, if markets really do work, the key feature which is only available on an iPhone at this point, will be produced by some other carrier or cellphone maker.  That is the way markets work.   Markey was really looking at those annoying cancellation fees - but when is there an example that a regulation reduced consumer costs?

The second response is more basic - "You're stuck with the Congress and you can't take it anywhere."  Would that we had as much choice in our elected officials as we did in our cellphones.  Certainly the cancellation fees with cellphones are a lot cheaper than with politicians.