Another Corporate Problem?

After an incredibly busy week for Senator Herb Kohl, things have slowed down a little bit this week. Nothing much has been really going on in his committees aside from the new AT&T deal announced yesterday, and it showed because Sen. Kohl had just made a few visits around Wisconsin this week to make a few speeches.

In the St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care, Kohl spoke to a crowd of elders regarding Wisconsin's popular prescription drug program also known as SeniorCare. The program was established in 2002 by former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson and had been extended twice since then by Sen. Kohl. Kohl asked Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to oppose any requests that might incorporate changes into SeniorCare. For all of us that didn't know, a provision under a Medicaid waiver that has authorized SeniorCare, it states the program are not allowed without federal approval. After his short speech, Kohl opened up the floor for any questions that the audience might have while enjoying the company of his constituents.

More scrutiny has evolved in the Google case. Experts continue to weigh in on the search engine, most of them criticizing Google for their actions. After Google has expanded its services to options such as maps, videos, restaurants, and movie ratings, other companies are worried that Google is promoting its own products rather than giving everyone a fair competition. Google continues to say that they had done nothing wrong, but experts continue to scrutinize the internet giant.

I'm a little curious as to why those corporations haven't also mentioned the phones that are now powered by Google and the services offered on those phones. I think if many of us would take a look on the back of our cellphone, we might be surprised to find a little icon saying "Powered by Google." I for sure am satisfied with my Google powered Droid 2 as it has been a great phone to use. Google's also bringing in money that way, and all the phones powered by Google offer much more Google widgets than just the basic Google search engine.

Finally, to those of you who have yet to hear the phone company AT&T has acquired T-Mobile which rocketed AT&T to more than 130 million users in the United States. The purchase was made for $39 billion and now makes AT&T the fourth largest carrier in the country. This move has now created a monopoly for GSM users in America. AT&T will now be the only GSM carrier in the country which will completely eliminate any competition among phone companies.

As you might have guessed, this move by the two companies has sparked great interest from Congress. In fact, right after the deal was announced, Congress made it's own announcement that they will certainly take a "close look" into the deal. Senator Kohl's statement on the issue sates that, "The explosion of cell phone usage—especially smart phones—makes competition in this market more important than ever as a check on prices, consumer choice, and service, that's why the Antitrust Subcommittee will take a close look at what this loss of competition will mean for people who increasingly rely on wireless phone service to connect to friends, family and the Internet." As more news comes up regarding this topic, I will certainly keep you informed. 


Also I wanted to end with Kohl's statement on the war in Libya. In an interview with Channel 18 news in Eau Claire, Herb Kohl came out with this statement: "The conflict in Libya is similar to what is happening around the Middle East. People want a voice in their future and Americans support that notion. We must be careful when taking action and avoid overstretching our armed forces as we go about providing our supportive role."

Have a great weekend everyone! See you next week!

Mr. Active

As Spring break is coming to an end, most of us are probably saddened with the fact that we're going to have to get off the couch, end our vacation, and get right back to school. For Sen. Kohl this certainly wasn't a "Spring Break" like weekend as he has been rather active in the news.

Getting back to the Google story from last week, more information and statements have been made public. The Fair Search Coalition (FSC) has released a statement about the work that the Senate Antitrust Committee has done in the last few weeks. It is important to remember that the FSC is also partnered with Microsoft, a company that has very often been reminded of antitrust laws by the United States. This feud will probably be ongoing for many many years to come just like it is shown in the US v. Microsoft time-line up above.

Also, as chairman of the Special Committee on Aging, Kohl has introduced some new recommendations on the nation's 401(k) plans. In summary, Kohl is calling for an increase in knowledge for employers so that they know what their benefits and risks are of having and introducing a 401(k) plan in their workplace.

This is following an investigation regarding a report that suggested that even though many companies had lost on their 401(k) plans in the last 3 years, the banks which had provided the plans reported no losses at all. Kohl called this situation "troubling" and has been actively trying to find a solution. For the rest of the information you can just read the article linked in the paragraph above.

Finally, there is some mention of Herb Kohl wanting the Justice Department to have the power of prosecuting OPEC member nations for raising their gas prices. However, I haven't really been able to find a credible source that would confirm this to a certain extent. I was able to find a one article that briefly mentions Kohl's solution to the "Drill, Baby, Drill!" motto of the republicans along with other solutions from more senior democrats. If anything new pops up I will be sure to give you all the news on that.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Til' Next time.

Google It!

First off, I'd like to apologize for not having a blog last week for all of you to read. It was a little bit of a busy time, and I got caught up in all of it and failed to write a blog. However, some interesting things have just recently came up with Herb Kohl so I will make sure to touch up on all of them.

Something that came up in my Google alerts today has actually been regarding the company Google and Senator Herb Kohl who is the leader of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights has taken on the issue of Google's dominance on the web. There is great debate about whether or not Google has committed some sort of infringement on the internet and is controlling too much of it. Google has come out to be known as an internet giant in the last few years and Senator Kohl has decided that it was time to tackle the issue. Check in next week to see if there have been any more updates regarding the case.

As many of us know, Wisconsin Governor Scott walker has been trying to pass a very controversial bill, and just this morning he has signed it into law. Senator Kohl has spoken out against the bill saying that "This is not how Democracy is supposed to work." You can read the rest of the article on the reactions from both Wisconsin Senators Kohl and Ron Johnson here. The bill is very controversial and I'm sure there will be more in the upcoming days that develops from this news.

Lastly, a recent article has come up about Sen. Kohl depositing 1 million dollars from his personal account to his campaign finances. This doesn't necessarily completely quiet down the talks of Herb Kohl retiring after his term is over in 2012, but it should quiet down quite a few of the speculations. I think Kohl could be foreseeing a possible challenge from a Republican candidate in 2012 and is trying to perhaps use preemptive spending in order to scare him or her away. Since Kohl has plenty of money, he could be very successful in solidifying yet another re-election in 2012.

Thanks for reading, check back over break to get another update about what Kohl is up to.