Obama's Broadband Roadmap

[babylonsister]

Obama's Broadband Roadmap

by Timothy Karr


In a Saturday morning YouTube address, President-elect Barack Obama gave the nation a first glimpse at his administration's stimulus plan - and connecting everyone to the Internet was a main route on his roadmap to economic recovery.

"Here, in the country that invented the Internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they'll get that chance when I'm President," he said. "Because that's how we'll strengthen America's competitiveness in the world."

That closing the digital divide ranks so highly on Obama's economic agenda might come as a surprise to some.

But like rural electrification and Interstate highway systems in the 20th century, Internet connectivity should be thought of as infrastructure that will light the way to 21st-century prosperity.

And it is not merely a matter of national pride. Getting more people connected is an issue with life-or-death consequences. Just 24 hours before Obama's speech, the U.S. Labor Department released figures showing an alarming unemployment rate of 6.7 percent. More than 533,000 jobs were lost November alone -- the worst job loss in 34 years.

The Internet could prove to be our path to economic salvation. A 2007 study by the Brookings Institution and MIT found that a one-digit increase in U.S. per-capita broadband penetration equates to an additional American 300,000 jobs. If our broadband penetration were as high as a country like Denmark, for example, we could expect more than 3 million additional jobs in America.

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/09-8

[FrenchieCat]

1. Yep! We need Broadband reaching the rural areas of the U.S..

especially those red areas that still relie on Corporate media for their news.

Excellent!

[babylonsister]

2. I thought this was excellent, too. I wonder

what the 'real' progressives think. ;)

[Cha]

3. Bueno points..I hadn't

thought of~

[polichick]

4. Good stuff! k&r

[CADEMOCRAT7]

5. Yes, I have been pushing for Universal Broadband for some time now. n/t

[Canuckistanian]

6. Damn, I hope this rubs off on Canadian politicians

I'm stuck in a broadband wilderness here in the country.

No cable, no wireless Internet. I can get satellite, but the costs are prohibitive and I don't trust satellite because of the latency and downtime issues.

If I were 5 miles either up or down this highway I live on, I'd be able to get wireless.

[NJCher]

7. broadband map

Off one of the links in the story is pretty cool!

NJ is at 57 per cent of homes w/broadband. What's your state at?



Cher