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$7.2 Billion Broadband Stimulus Almost Finalized
$350 million to mapping, network neutrality language preserved...
For those interested in what $789 billion will buy you these days, you can check out what should be the final infrastructure stimulus plan here (hat tip to Stacey Higginbotham). While the $7.2 billion dedicated to broadband retains network neutrality language, all of the speed-specific language we've talked about previously has been stripped from the bill, after cable-industry lobbyists complained that the 100Mbps watermark was too fast, and others claimed that Verizon would net a huge $1.6 billion payday for doing virtually nothing differently. Grants for rural deployment will be doled out by the NTIA ($4.7 billion) and the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service ($2.5 billion), both of whom have a mixed track record on getting the money where it's needed, and actually getting broadband deployed. $350 million will be reserved for the mapping of broadband penetration in the United States. The bill would also require the FCC develop a broadband policy (it took us until 2009 to decide this) within one year.

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Somnambul33t
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Somnambul33t

Premium Member

Wool over your eyes

this bill is a joke. it's a giant prok and earmarked-filled amendment against free enterprise and has basically no stimulus factors whatsoever. government does not create wealth and governments do not create new legislation to stir an economy. if any gov't whats to spur their nation's economy, the only proven method is LESS regulation.

this bill is designed to do one thing and one thing alone: firmly cement the Democrats in power for years to come. this does nothing for the economy and we have yet to be told where this $800 Billion is coming from. does anybody know? China already stopped buying our bonds. no one wants our bonds. we dont have gold to back up our currency and we keep printing money, more relatively than in our nation's history even adjusted for inflation.

there are provisions in the bill to set in motion plans for nationalized healthcare, man-made global warming, something like $50 billion for new highways (of which only 10% will be used in 2009).

the majority of the money in this bill won;t even be used until 2011 and 2012.

the length of the bill is something like 1100 pages! our Senate and House Reps havent even read a FRACTION of this bill that is being voted on TODAY. this will set America back 50 years and will make us reset our economy and rethink social priorities over the next 50 years once veryone realizes how big of a mistake this bill is. it's almost infinitely worse than the Bush stimulus packages combined that passed last year, which were both big mistakes.

this is truly a scary piece of legislation...