"Do Not Call" Means Poorest May Lose Jobs

Cato Institute ^ | various | Various

[LowCountryJoe]

According to The Los Angeles Times, "Last summer, the federal government announced a national registry for consumers who want to block telemarketers from calling them. Americans rushed to sign up.

"Of the nation's 166 million residential numbers, 51 million are now off-limits to telemarketers. Despite ongoing court challenges, the list went into effect last month.

"The crackdown might be welcomed by consumers, but not by telemarketers like Millican, many of whom survive on the economic fringe. The nation has lost 2.6 million jobs in two years, and the 'do not call' list is expected to put hundreds of thousands more people out of work."

In "Like It Or Not, Free Speech Protects Telemarketers, Too", Cato's Robert Levy, senior fellow in constitutional studies, argues that "when government sets the rules, it must not discriminate based on the content of the calls. That's what the First Amendment means. Free speech is not subject to plebiscite, no matter how many millions sign up for no-call. [Supreme Court] Justice William Brennan got it right: 'If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.'"

[LowCountryJoe]

"...Post your phone numbers now...or you are just a big hypocrite..."

I've already posted mine and I'll post it again - (843) 8194073. No one, so far, has had the sack to call it. The truth is, I'm not particuliarly interested in fielding your calls either. So I guess my larger point is: If people like you dare others to post their numbers then maybe you SHOULD call. Or, maybe you SHOULD just shut your soup cooler and not write such ridiculous demands. BTW, if you call me after 10 PM EST, I'll have my cell phone silenced, so, leave me a numeric page instead of a voice message and I'll call you back. I'll do it too, I'm a friggin' kook!

[LowCountryJoe]

Are you conservative? Did you really read my commentary? Earlier I posted that I wasn't a telemarketer; you must have had a knee-jerk reaction based the headline I posted and not read much further. Try telling me what B.S. arguments I made, I'm truly interested in thought out points of view, even when they conflict with mine. And I suppose being a Newbie is derogatory? That somehow it makes my contribution to this board marginalized. Who are you, the resident geek who has racked up more board time and gets to look down on the newcomers. Are we even on the same side of the political spectrum here?

"Can't we all just get along?" - R. King

[DefCon]

Gee, LowCountry,
some unscrupulous person could use that number...
843-819-4073
...and sign you up with a marketing service.
(over and over and over and over again)

signed,
some unscrupulous person

[LowCountryJoe]

That gave me a good laugh.

[NELSON111]

Don't think I was talking to you...but I'll call you when I get to a place where I will come up unavailable...don't worry....it will happen...maybe 10 times a day...just have to wait until I know I will be unavailable and you can't call me back...just like the real thing. Since it doesn't bother you it won't be a big deal...I'll just try to sell you some imaginary things.

THANKS!!! I'll be sure to pass your number along in some e-mails...really appreciate it.

[BobbyK]

LowCountryJoe, Got a fews ire up, kept it going and entertained.
Welcome aboard!

B

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b

b

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K

[HighWheeler]

Well, you sure aren't as smart as you think you are.

Yeah I read your post, and all I needed to know was at the end, after slogging through a stinkin' load of your bullsh*t: "I think these are valid arguments, don't you? I would just enjoy watch our elected officials having to choose between acknowledging their stupidity or actually pushing for a constitutional amendment to reinforce their non-belief in freemarket solutions."

You obviously didn't read MY post, Einstein. My solution didn't involve the government, it involved my own form of revenge on an entire class of reprehensible jerks, and it's working.

Read it again Joeyboy, try to comprehend the message, then go out and get a real job, chuckles.

[palmer]

I got unsolicited calls on my cell before the DNC list.

Talk to your cell provider. Complain, tell them you don't want those calls. If they want your business, they will listen.

[palmer]

yes, verizon wireless cellphone.

[palmer]

It's an "entitlement" if I pay for it!

You are entitled to what you pay for which is phone service that allows anyone to call you. If you want a better service, then you need to pay for it. Asking the government for it makes it an entitlement.

[DefCon]

You know what?
When enough people get irritated by a particular behavior
that some other people may consider is within their "rights",
then they expect and even insist that laws be written.

When enough people got irritated by cigarette smoke,
they insisted on laws that "limited" the "rights" of smokers.

Enough people got irritated by telemarketers, so
they insisted on laws that "limited" the "rights" of telemarketers.

My phone only rings now when it is family or friends
that is the way I like it and the way that I want it to be.
And I am in the majority.
So get used to it.
The battle is over.
And your side lost.

[palmer]

Do gunshots irritate you? My practice might irritate you if you lived next to me. You could pass a law restricting my practice to the range. Then maybe a few more to limit ranges to out-of-the-way places.

Your insistence on not having telemarketers is even more laughable considering you signed up to receive their calls. You pay money to get their calls! LOL!

[LowCountryJoe]

You're showing a hell of a lot of maturity here. I would like to respond privately and not publicly but I guess I do not have the same amount of maturity and restraint that I would have hoped from you either.

My response was not aimed at how you handle calls from TMs, which by the way is commendable, it was at calling my arguments B.S. You didn't even have the courtesy to point out what was B.S. about them. I've read both your posts now and you still haven't addressed my arguments. I suppose that you don't have to, but think of how cheesy this may look to some.

Speaking of chuckles, I read YOUR entire blog that you've established. It has some VERY good quotes in there. Perhaps you should reread the one below and reflect on this "protect me from the evil telemarketer" list while you're reading it:


[Adolf Hitler on Nazism and socialism:] "Each activity and each need of the individual will thereby be REGULATED by the party as the representative of the GENERAL GOOD. There will be no license, no free space, in which the individual belongs to himself. This is Socialism--not such trifles as the private possession of the means of production. Of what importance is that if I range men firmly within a discipline they cannot escape? Let them then own land or factories as much as they please. The decisive factor is that the State, through the party, is supreme over them, regardless whether they are owners or workers. All that, you see, is unessential. Our Socialism goes far deeper."

[HighWheeler]

" Asking the government for it makes it an entitlement."

Call it whatever term makes you feel important.

The government should just serve and protect as was originally in their charter. Protecting us by having a set of collectively beneficial laws that protect us from outside detrimental forces as we collectively see fit - to fund the miltary, police force, firefighters, public prosecutors, prisons, etc.

They protect us from thieves, arsonists, murderers, and now a bunch of huckster losers who insist on invading our privacy against the collective wishes of those who expressly don't want it invaded.

Well I personally hit back at these abject revolting jerks in their time and energy element and I think it's working great. My only regret is not seeing their puke faces when they realize they have been talking to an empty phone for the last few minutes.

[DefCon]

Don't kid yourself.
Many a gun range has been closed by noise complaints.

[HighWheeler]

Sheesh you can't even read the quote well, can you?

"There will be no license, no free space, in which the individual belongs to himself. This is Socialism--"

Sounds like what telemarketers want. Invasion of our homes via telephone on their terms. The rest of us want to have our homes as a free space without the of invasion of idiots, be they terrorists or telemarketers. Too bad for you.

Stop posting to me, you can't read, think, or write well enough for my time.

[palmer]

Don't kid yourself. Many a gun range has been closed by noise complaints.

And you favor such closures?

[DefCon]

palmer, palmer, palmer.
It's not about whether you or I favor it,
its just the way it is, thats all.
Are you arguing from some high moral perspective?
Are you in denial of the world in which we live?
The majority rules.
Been that way for quite a while now
Get used to it.

[LowCountryJoe]

I wouldn't mind taking YOUR calls, but passing on my number to others! Wouldn't you admit that maybe that's a bit over the top? And yes, I DID think that you were writing an open invitation to those of us on the other side of this argument. And yes, I do consider that a ridiculous demand. That is why I wrote what I did (and maybe to show I had the b@lls too).

So go ahead, pass along my number if you wish and tell your friends to ping away at it, but really consider the move first. I may have to go through the inconvenience of changing my number and then I'd feel a little compelled to write the other people who post on this board that you actually followed through with your threat (the one about sharing the #). My guess is that this wouldn't play to well with this crowd. Then again, I could be wrong; the responses to this thread have surprised the heck out of me so far.

[palmer]

They protect us from thieves, arsonists, murderers, and now a bunch of huckster losers who insist on invading our privacy against the collective wishes of those who expressly don't want it invaded.

Your gave up privacy when you connected to the phone network, just as you give up noise free living when you moved next to me, just as my headlights violate your privacy after dark. All those things invade your privacy and there's nothing you can do about it. If you are especially annoyed by signals coming over a wire, use common sense and cut the wire.