"An Overreaching Underachiever"

"The Federal government has become what it is - an overreaching underachiever - partly because so many legislators seem to believe that every good idea should become a federal program and every bad idea should become a federal crime."

George Will

Time Warner Cable is moving toward metering and capping internet usage for its subscribers. New York Democratic Rep. and liberal DailyKos blogger Eric Massa calls this an "outrageous plan to tax the American people."

I'm not a big fan of the idea either, but this is exactly the kind of problem that the free market will solve on its own. Consider the two possibilities:

1. The company is telling the truth about its costs being inflated by a small percentage of voracious downoaders, or 
   
2. They are exaggerating the costs, and they will be punished by the market as their customers leave for a competitor with a reasonable pricing structure. 
   

If (1.) is true, then the proposed legislation only serves to make the internet provider business unprofitable, leading to higher flat rates for everyone. If (2.) is the case, the legislation would be completely unneccessary, but it wouldn't be repealed and would clog the books for forever or so.

In reality, I think the cable companies really want to cap usage for a self-serving reason: they want to make sure people don't use the internet to watch TV and thus cannibalize their main business.

Of course, the good congressman will get what he wants out of the situation: to be perceived as a crusader for the little guy.