The myth of deregulation's consumer benefits

[Commentary] Here's a question for you: Is there a single example of consumer prices going down and market competition increasing after deregulation of a U.S. industry?

I'm serious. The phone industry? The cable industry? Regulatory oversight for both was eased — and in some cases eliminated — and look where that's gotten us. AT&T's monopoly over phone service ended in 1984 in a government settlement that gave the local phone networks to seven regional operators, known as the Baby Bells. The telecommunications market was deregulated in 1996 in hopes of promoting more competition. Where are we now? A wave of mergers has resulted in just two companies, AT&T and Verizon, controlling almost the entire U.S. landline market. AT&T, Verizon and Sprint account for about 75% of the wireless market. On the cable side of things, four companies — Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications and Cox Communications — now account for about two-thirds of all U.S. subscribers. Needless to say, phone and cable rates have risen steadily since the telecom market was deregulated.