Purblind Auction

PURBLIND AUCTION
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission is bragging about its latest wireless auction, with total bids of more than $19 billion after two weeks. But dig beneath those numbers and the picture is less rosy. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin wasn't content to sell this real estate to the highest bidder. Instead, he embarked on a central-planning experiment, setting aside the two biggest blocks for special uses. The FCC's procedures require blind, confidential bidding, so there is much about the auction that we won't know until it wraps up. But it already seems clear that Mr. Martin's rules have damaged the value of otherwise choice spectrum and are harming the overall auction. The FCC's previous experiments with rigging auctions also flopped; witness the NextWave bankruptcy, which tied up billions of dollars of spectrum for years. Mr. Martin will claim victory in the auction no matter what happens. But what we'll never know is how much would have been bid -- and thus how much more the Treasury would have received -- if Mr. Martin had auctioned this spectrum without his favors for special interests attached.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120235091756249573.html?mod=todays_us_op...
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