USDA Offers Up $342M In Rural Broadband Loans Targeted at communities of 20k or less... The U.S. Department of Agriculture this morning announced they're doling out $342 million in loans to help fund the expansion of broadband into portions of rural America. The loans are delivered as part of the Rural Development Broadband Loan and Loan Guarantee Program, which provides low-interest broadband loans to rural communities of 20,000 residents or less -- with areas without broadband getting priority. "Providing state-of-the-art communications services in rural areas promotes business development, increases job opportunities and improves access to educational services," insists Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer.
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| Re: Old news is OLD. said by Duramax08:They were giving out grants along time ago. Alot of companies went after those but they dont want loans they would rather pay back, They want grants so they can get phr33 money so they can use it rather then to pay it back. Also, If they want to come down my road, Att and Time Warner should know who I am now and also we are considered "rural" even though we are less then a mile from city limits. That's the thing...they weren't doling out any loans for truly rural areas. Like you said, you only live a mile from city limits. | |
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| | broadband hope i wonder if at&t or charter cable are getting any of this money because those two are my only hope for real broadband unless someone starts a wisp in my area | |
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Banks, OR | Re: broadband hope said by splat1622:i wonder if at&t or charter cable are getting any of this money because those two are my only hope for real broadband unless someone starts a wisp in my area You miss the point - these loans are intended to be used by some go-getter entrepeneur to jump-start a business like a WISP. Big ILEC's like ATA&T have the cash, they don't need a loan; they're just not interested in your business. | |
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| | Sweet, glad to see my tax dollars at work! So instead of companies using their own capital to expand their enterprise they are going to borrow from the consumer, that makes sense  | |
| | | | Re: Sweet, glad to see my tax dollars at work! i do agree that at&t or charter should pay to extend their network with their own money,but they are not doing that very well for example a&t is running fiber for uverse in my town now in a rural area with less population than my street,so i still sit with dsl,and cable stopping 1700 feet from me | |
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| | Holy Crap... "For example, Fort Mojave Telecommunications, Inc. in Mojave Valley, Ariz., will use a $16.9 million Rural Development telecommunications loan to connect 60 subscribers, deploy 36 route miles of fiber and copper cables, make improvements and additions to its existing plant and construct a 2,000-square-foot warehouse on leased land on the Fort Mojave Reservation in the Arizona Village Exchange. "
All of that for 60 subscribers??? $16.9 million | |
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San Antonio, TX | Re: Holy Crap... Wow, For that, I think it would be a waste. I can understand putting it in a fairly decent population but for only 60 people and almost 17 mil, thats just crazy | |
| | |  ThrowDemsOutIf you can't convince 'em, confuse 'emPremium
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kudos:4 | Re: Holy Crap... said by Duramax08:Wow, For that, I think it would be a waste. I can understand putting it in a fairly decent population but for only 60 people and almost 17 mil, thats just crazy And what exactly constitutes a community or an area?
They say they will give deals for communities with less than 20,000. But is a community a county, a township, a town, a grouping of farmhouses around an intersection of 2 rural roads? The same goes for the other proviso about loans for areas with less than 5,000.
Those criteria let the loans be given out to just about any area the bureaucrats deem worthy. Sounds like it really just turns in to another pork project controlled by appointed flunkies of local pols in the Agriculture Dept.
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Mount Airy, MD | Everyone Rides For Free! So on top of being paid to not grow things, getting subsidies for crops that are selling at record prices, as well as below-legal-market-cost labor provided by swarms of illegals, rural areas still need more free money for broadband?
I love we, as consumers of farm products, don't get these production cost discounts passed on down to us in the form of lower prices for food (and now fuel because we are dumb enough to grow fuel).
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| |  RR ConductorHappy 40th AmtrakPremium
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3 edits | Re: Everyone Rides For Free! said by pnh102:So on top of being paid to not grow things, getting subsidies for crops that are selling at record prices, as well as below-legal-market-cost labor provided by swarms of illegals, rural areas still need more free money for broadband? I love we, as consumers of farm products, don't get these production cost discounts passed on down to us in the form of lower prices for food (and now fuel because we are dumb enough to grow fuel). 1.Obviously, you don't live in a rural area, I do. I was born and raised in an urban area of L.A., so I can speak for both sides of this fence.
2.Your post is full of a lot of propaganda, but few concrete facts backed by actual data.
3.You either haven't learned or refuse to learn about rural America and it's needs.
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Mount Airy, MD | Re: Everyone Rides For Free! said by RR Conductor:1.Obviously, you don't live in a rural area. How does my residence impact the facts I have presented?
said by RR Conductor:2.Your post is full of a lot of propaganda, but few concrete facts backed by actual data. So farmers don't get paid to not grow things, don't get subsidies for crops that are selling at record prices, and don't hire illegals because they are cheaper than legals?
said by RR Conductor:3.You either don't or refuse to learn about rural America and it's needs. It sounds like quite the money pit!
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Coloma, MI | Re: Everyone Rides For Free! said by pnh102:It sounds like quite the money pit! Nah, the real money pit is Wall Street. 
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Mount Airy, MD | Re: Everyone Rides For Free! said by extreme50:Nah, the real money pit is Wall Street. They're all money pits. It sickens me to see "rabid capitalists" become commies once their little financial schemes fail.
We should just hang up the old soviet flag all over Wall Street. That's exactly what they have become.
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| | |  knightmbEverybody Lies
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Franklin, TN | said by pnh102:said by RR Conductor:1.Obviously, you don't live in a rural area. How does my residence impact the facts I have presented? said by RR Conductor:2.Your post is full of a lot of propaganda, but few concrete facts backed by actual data. So farmers don't get paid to not grow things, don't get subsidies for crops that are selling at record prices, and don't hire illegals because they are cheaper than legals? said by RR Conductor:3.You either don't or refuse to learn about rural America and it's needs. It sounds like quite the money pit! 1) They are not facts, just spin on what some farmers get, not all of them by far.
2) A big urban legend, some farmers only get paid not to grow things when there is an over supply, but the farmer can not grow anything else. A farmer in a certain location/climate can't change to a different crop because it takes different machinery, different growing cycles for rain, climate, etc. It would be like asking a car manufacturer to stop producing cars and start producing airplanes just for that year, then start making cars again next year.
3) Farming has the same problem as the other business; corporate or personal greed. You don't see a lot of mom & pop farms because they tend to be under one corporate umbrella. If you start a farm and have a bad year, you either let the bank come take everything or you sell off. So even though you have a bunch of farms everywhere, they might all be owned by the same food company. When that happens, then you get into the illegal workers and illegal/questionable methods of growing for maximum profit. Farming is a very complex and it has high risks due to the sheer size and effort needed to raise and harvest a good crop.
The long standing stereotype of the red neck riding around on the tractor growing crops are better left for Hollywood. Everything seems to think you just plunk some seeds in the ground, water it and everything just magically makes it your supermarket afterwards, but it couldn't be farther from the truth.
As someone who grew up on the farm and moved to the city after high school, I know that the stress of being a farmer for one week would take out any CEO hotshot at a fortune 500 company. 
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| part of this issue is the subsidies for large agribusiness concerns, along with numerous loopholes that allow them to get these huge subsidies. I'm pretty sure ADM doesn't need subsidies:
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As a report of the libertarian Cato Institute puts it, "The Archer Daniels Midland Corporation (ADM) has been the most prominent recipient of corporate welfare in recent U.S. history. ADM and its chairman Dwayne Andreas have lavishly fertilized both political parties with millions of dollars in handouts and in return have reaped billion-dollar windfalls from taxpayers and consumers."
I don't mind supporting the "family" farmer, but strict conditions and limits need to be set to ensure support goes to those that really need it.
like most govt programs, the farm bill addresses political needs, not agricultural needs, and the biggest benefits go to those that lobby the most. | |
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1 edit | Re: Everyone Rides For Free! said by nasadude:I don't mind supporting the "family" farmer, but strict conditions and limits need to be set to ensure support goes to those that really need it. I agree with you completely. I would probably not have a problem supporting a family farmer, even if it meant higher food prices and no subsidies.
However, agribusiness is a huge enough welfare queen as it stands now. They don't need any more help from the taxpayer.
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| | | Your understanding of farming and the financial aspect is laughable. If you don't like the prices, you're more than welcome to grow your own food. Along with record prices for crops comes record high prices for the fertilizer, seed, and land. You think the farmers are getting rich? This ethanol has driven the price of corn so high it's not profitable to feed corn to the beef cattle because of the low price of beef. Look at the price of milk that FARMERS are getting 80 years ago compared to what it is now, then go ahead and compare that with inflation. By the way, where do these USDA funds come from for these LOANS (different from grants--not just free money)? | |
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1 edit | Lol I think you're just trying to get a rise out of people now. | |
| | | | | Re: Everyone Rides For Free! Im starting my own WISP with $50k of my own personal cash, with $16.9 million I could cover a HUGE footprint and bring service to tens of thousands of rural customers and I dont mean the poor sob who is 1000ft from the cable lines, im talking about people 15-50mi from the nearest stoplight kind of rural.
too bad i cant get those loans cause the applications are ridiculous. | |
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