I'm torn... The US government spent $800 Billion (in today's $) to build the national highway system during the "New Deal"...
I'm not a big fan of the "stimulus" package, but I could see a whole lot of people liking the idea of dumping a few hundred billion into nationwide high speed internet.
Indeed, why couldn't the government take up the issue of building better, faster, cheaper internet connections for the US. To bad Bush isn't still in office. I'm sure if you told him if we have slow internet connections then the terrorist win this would have been sorted out faster than they could find Osama Bin Laden.....on second thought moving to South Korea sounds like a move viable option.
It isn't the responsibility of the government to build out a private Internet infrastructure. That's the job of private industry. The best thing the government could do is stop supporting the telcos and the media industry with specialized deals that help keep them competitive without actually competing. Getting the government involved isn't the solution, it is the problem.
Few hundred billion?? We don't need that much! Even the ambitious project from the telecom workers lobby only required 100 Billion total over 5 years.
Even $50 billion in federal grants and no-interest loans to telecom companies would do wonders to lay new fiber to cities and suburbs.. I think it should be owned as a public utility and then leased out to private telecom companies to actually run the networks..
For those looking for a device strictly for reading, the new Kobo is a nice little option. It's small enough to slip into a pocket, can do more with a PDF than the competition, and at $129, it's $10 cheaper than both the Nook and Kindle WiFi.
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I'm torn... The US government spent $800 Billion (in today's $) to build the national highway system during the "New Deal"...
I'm not a big fan of the "stimulus" package, but I could see a whole lot of people liking the idea of dumping a few hundred billion into nationwide high speed internet.
Indeed, why couldn't the government take up the issue of building better, faster, cheaper internet connections for the US. To bad Bush isn't still in office. I'm sure if you told him if we have slow internet connections then the terrorist win this would have been sorted out faster than they could find Osama Bin Laden.....on second thought moving to South Korea sounds like a move viable option.
It isn't the responsibility of the government to build out a private Internet infrastructure. That's the job of private industry. The best thing the government could do is stop supporting the telcos and the media industry with specialized deals that help keep them competitive without actually competing. Getting the government involved isn't the solution, it is the problem.
Few hundred billion?? We don't need that much! Even the ambitious project from the telecom workers lobby only required 100 Billion total over 5 years.
Even $50 billion in federal grants and no-interest loans to telecom companies would do wonders to lay new fiber to cities and suburbs.. I think it should be owned as a public utility and then leased out to private telecom companies to actually run the networks..