Someone is a bit upset over not getting his way 100% of the time. He
should consider himself lucky since AT&T and the rest of that
industry enjoys a privileged position with very little competition. The
end result is poor products that could never compete abroad due to the
low price/quality ratio.



Just imagine with the US mobile and internet services would be like if this industry spent money
on improving their technology rather than lobbying or influencing
politics. AT&T's iPhone business was about as anti-capitalist as it
comes yet they got away with that nonsense for years. AT&T
recently made some modifications to their iPhone locking system, but
sheesh, welcome to 2009 in Europe. Their business practices still are closer to behaving like a trust than anything that resembles capitalism.



Yes, he made a few million less because the AT&T merger deal was
rejected but what about the country as a whole? Why does it always have
to be "me, me, me" for these people? Big business and management gone wild.

AT&T Inc. (T) Chairman Randall Stephenson lost $2.08
million in bonus pay after Democrats killed his bid to build the
biggest mobile provider. Six weeks after the deal collapsed, he made his
largest campaign donation in more than two decades of giving to
Republicans.



Stephenson’s $30,800 contribution to the Republican
National Committee punctuated months of sniping between the biggest
U.S. telephone company and the Democratic-controlled Federal
Communications Commission.



Stephenson and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, a Democrat, have
disagreed over spectrum policies and whether killing AT&T’s proposed
$39 billion merger with T-Mobile USA Inc. led to price increases.Lobbying
is not always bad and for a business it makes sense but as they say,
all things within reason. People like Stephenson really need a serious
dose of competition and actual capitalism. AT&T would struggle in
that environment and people like Stephenson would be lost, so they
simply dump cash into the political system.