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| Government involvement in upgrading the Internet I'm not a left-leaning person, but lets face it the Internet would not exist in its current form without the huge amount of involvement it got from the federal government, combined with ideals presented by the involvement of academic universities. And it's probably not going to improve substantially without some more government pushing.
It would have been nice back in 2008 instead of using the nearly trillion dollars of stimulus funds on God knows what, we had had the imagination to do something like what Eisenhower did for the Interstate system for upgrading the Internet. Surely with $750 billion we could make a huge dent in providing really fast Internet service to all of our major academic institutions and cities. I think it's difficult to even put a proper figure on the return on investment we've received from our initial investment in the Internet, one which we will continue to receive compounding interest on for some time, and likewise I believe such a forward-looking push would provide long-term returns.
You can imagine how horrible our road system would be if completely privatized. Local providers would always have an interest in there being less roads, as less supply would allow them to charge a higher toll with less capital outlays. Again, I'm not a left-leaning person, but there are things that government is actually needed for, and this is one of them. Internet service, like power or water or roads, is a public good that needs public investment. And if you grant monopoly interest to local companies to provide these services you need to make sure there is extra regulation to ensure the companies don't use their monopoly position to overcharge and under-deliver on services. | |
| I agree, the money would of done wonders to our infrastructure for years to come, and put the USA at a advantage and create 1000s of jobs.. it would of been used a heck of lot better than buying a bunch of useless stuff that wasn't need because it was their in the first place... and not to think of the money that would be made from such a investment.. sure government doesn't run things perfect but hand over each local (city or county) a utility like that and they could make it profitable and be in publics interest's.. in fact local governments for the most part know what they have to do, and almost every city runs their own water company or gas... internet shouldn't be no different.. heck in fact quoting the big cable cos them selves.. Internet should be charged like utilities.. well if that's the case shouldn't the local government over see this or have their own? I think so personally! but oh well.. | |
| reply to michael2l
Well presented. Good salient points to ponder. 750 billion is one hell of a lot of money that got pissed away | |
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| reply to michael2l
Stimulus funds went to a variety of projects. Some went for sewage system repairs and bridge repairs. Some did go for internet upgrades using middle mile fiber expansions. Some projects have worked. Some have not. Very similar to what went on during the days of the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps. Some stuff went well and some stuff did not. Most internet service is presently done by private companies, who paid big bribes to severely restrict what can be done in the cause of internet service improvements with government money. You do not get the same level or type of bribery when it comes to things like roads, because they are already in the public domain. The most fierce opposition is to last mile projects like FTTH, FTTP, or FTTC. Middle mile projects are rarely challenged as they do not directly compete with last mile provider profits. Projects that only connect government buildings to other government buildings also are rarely challenged. That is why you see the emphasis on public community "anchor" institutions in the stimulus fund requests for last mile connections to public libraries, public schools, public hospitals, fire, police, city hall, public museums and not for profit institutions. Never mention service to private small/medium businesses or private residences if you want to go with only mild challenges to the project. A few too big to fail businesses of course get to be included in the project if they meet certain criteria. If the local public electric power company is providing electricity service to a too big to fail large factory, than newly created internet service by that same public utility can be supplied to that enterprise level customer, but not to the small business of Brenda's Bakery Boutique. | |
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