General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: This Future Map Of The United States Is Way Cooler Than Any Current Map Of The United States [View all]amandabeech
(9,893 posts)Folks from a certain area, like a county, would form a co-op and apply for a loan from the Rural Electrification Board ( or whatever it was called).
If they were approved for the loan, they'd go out and either hire folks to put up the poles and wires or do it themselves with consultation. They'd hire someone to build the transformers and contract for the electricity itself from larger producers. Later on, they built their own generating plants.
I grew up with electricity supplied by my county co-op, as did both my parents. Now, the county coops in western and parts of northern Michigan have joined into one electrical coop--Consumers Energy.
High speed internet is moving into rural areas, but it is wireless. There are more and more cell-type towers that offer the service. Verizon is a big provider.
Perhaps in some places, the populations want rail service and would be willing to finance their section of track. Of course, they would get the profits attributable to those sections.
Once the economy really gets going, who knows?