On Friday, President Obama issued an executive order putting the federal government as the initiator of competition in our free market system. He explained his plans further during his Saturday weekly address as to how he intends to use the government machine to make things more "fair" for consumers and businesses.

His first call is to the Federal Communications Commission in asking them to "open up" set-top cable boxes to competition instead of cable companies providing their own for a monthly rental fee:

Right now, 99 percent of cable and satellite TV customers rent set-top boxes from their providers. According to one survey, this costs households an average of more than $230 per year. We spend some $20 billion to rent these devices. While we have almost unlimited choice in what we watch on television, from traditional programming to online content, there’s next to no competition to build a better, user-friendly product that allows you to easily access all this content in one place. So most consumers just rent whatever the cable company offers. Because we have to. That means companies have little incentive to innovate. As a consequence, we need multiple devices and controllers to access content from different sources. That makes no sense.   

And so Obama said his administration is "encouraging" the FCC to "remove the barriers to competition" so that consumers have access to more cable box options. 

But here's what he didn't get around to mentioning in his address that is also ushered in with his executive order -- because surely there's more to this than meets the eye. According to a White House release, the government's hand in competition brings with it a hefty agenda:

Competitive markets also help advance national priorities, such as the delivery of affordable health care, energy independence, and improved access to fast and affordable broadband. Competitive markets also promote economic growth, which creates opportunity for American workers and encourages entrepreneurs to start innovative companies that create jobs.

Obama's hope is to use the government to "detect and stop anticompetitive conduct," the same administration that created the most anticompetitive product sanctioned by the federal government in the Affordable Care Act.