'High-Speed Internet Isn't A Luxury- It's A Necessity': Morris Pearl, Patriotic Millionaires

[appalachiablue]

"High-Speed Internet Isn’t A Luxury – It’s A Necessity." By Morris Pearl, Patriotic Millionaires Chairperson, *May 19, 2020.

As we approach the 3rd month of nationwide social distancing orders, many of us have become accustomed to our new life indoors thanks to the plethora of activities and connections internet access can provide. However, for many of my fellow Americans in small towns and rural communities, high-speed fiber optic internet connection is a luxury that they simply do not have access to. In today’s age, especially during a global pandemic where online communication has replaced all in-person gatherings, high-speed internet access is a utility that is just as vital as electricity, sewage, or water access.

My internet connection can transfer more than 600 million bits per second (each way) over the internet. That means I could stream (or upload) high definition 4K video for 32 different movies simultaneously. Okay, 32 may be pushing it a little, but I could definitely handle 20 people streaming HD 4K video, attending classes via zoom, doing video conferences, and playing multiplayer video games all at the same time — although I would have to think about how to arrange 20 people in my apartment with everyone being six feet apart. And it’s not because I pay a fortune for internet service.
My internet bill is about average for Americans. It is because I live in Manhattan.

Manhattan has a population density over one thousand times greater than the state of Iowa. That means that laying fiber optics cable in Iowa has (more-or-less) over one thousand times higher cost per person than laying fiber optics cables here where I live. So, the free market system is not likely to produce high-speed internet connections in rural Iowa anytime soon. This is a problem, because those of us who live in parts of Iowa, and a bunch of other rural places, do not have the opportunities enjoyed by those of us who are rich and live in big expensive cities. There are different ways to view that situation. One response is: yes, that is how the free market system works.

Another response is that every major American innovation (including the internet) was made possible by government intervention, and there is no reason that providing internet service to every American can’t also be made possible by government intervention. - The original airlines were heavily subsidized by the US Postal Service. - Electricity was made possible for millions of Americans by the Tennessee Valley Authority (paid for by the US Government). - Telephone service was provided to millions of Americans at way below cost by the Communications Act of 1934. - Cornelius Vanderbilt became the richest man in the world, partially because of the over 120 million acres of land given to the railroad industry as subsidies. - The internet was originally called the D-ARPA net for Defense Advanced Research Project Agency Network, because it was all paid for by an agency of the federal government.

And we can do it again. We can provide internet service to Iowa, Kansas, and Michigan’s upper peninsula, and all of the other places where our fellow countrymen want to live and don’t enjoy the access to the internet that I have. The same framework that made the Tennessee Valley Authority work for electricity can make a new Ohio River Valley Authority work for broadband internet...https://patrioticmillionaires.org/2020/05/19/high-speed-internet-isnt-a-luxury-its-a-necessity/
____________

- Cornelius Vanderbilt, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_Vanderbilt

[jimfields33]

1. It's expensive too

I am at 205 a month for high speed Internet and cable. Although Comcast could provide for those in need.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

6. 205!!

I could never afford it.

[frazzled]

7. Geez, we have fiber optic

for $25 per month. Large city, bulk pricing for condo building, but still.

My spouse says we may upgrade to their higher service soon. It’s fine for my work and general usage (it’s way faster and more reliable than anything we’ve had before). But he’s been spending 3-4 hours straight on Zoom every day teaching, and thinks he would benefit. It only costs $10 to $15 more.

As I posted before, our school district is installing free high-speed internet connections to 100,000 student families in the city for four years. Millions of private dollars were donated to make this possible.

https://cps.edu/chicagoconnected/Pages/home.aspx

[cayugafalls]

2. High speed internet needs to be accessible to everyone regardless of income.

This is a fact. It is linked to higher education now and forever. To limit access based on income is to limit education based on income. Same story. The whole system of educational funding needs to be reset and equalized across the board.

[Timewas]

3. Rural Oregon

We have fiber here and it is great 25025 after years of 1.3 /?? and usually was more like .75 if lucky

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. Among the reasons I live in a city

is for things like internet. While I really do understand the appeal of being in a rural place, you give up a lot. In the past, the trade-offs would have been well worth it. When I was growing up we lived in the country in northern New York State, and there was a lot that was wonderful about it.

But around 1980, when things like cable TV started popping up, the trade-offs became more and more severe.

I suppose that eventually all internet will be satellite based, and so you will be able to live absolutely anywhere and have all the electronic connections you could possibly want. I hope so.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

5. My phone

Is my net access and I get my data throttled by the 15th. Every month.

So half the month I cannot zoom to groups from my day program. I can't go online, and do it I can't afford and don't have the web. If I need to see a doctor past the 15th I can't do telehealth. I have to risk my ass and see her at her office.

The net needs to be available to everybody, including the poor and the computer and equipment required
to connect.

Verizon and other telecoms have made enough profit off selling a necessity.

I can't even telehealth with my therapist, I miss two sessions a month. I have appointment once a week.


Had a really bad time today the anxiety was making me crazy today.
But I can't see my therapist tomorrow because my phone is too slow for zoom to work.

This sucks.

[Nay]

8. By god, everybody's gotta have hi-speed internet!! Let's make that a priority! Who cares

if they have a shitty health care system, not enough good food . . . we gotta get them on to the internet!

[appalachiablue]

9. ...

- "Vote As I Say, Not As I Do," By Morris Pearl, Patriotic Millionaires, 2018.

...Their shamelessness may start with tax cuts, but it gets even worse with health care. In response to the growing popularity of Medicare for All as an alternative to our absurdly expensive and bloated private healthcare system, Speaker Paul Ryan and his colleagues across the country try to call themselves champions of Medicare who will fight to protect the program from the socialist Democrats hellbent on bankrupting the program entirely by refusing to cut benefits.

Never mind that Republican politicians have tried again and again to drastically limit Medicare spending. This year’s House Republican budget alone, their vision for what government spending should look like, included over $500 billion in cuts to Medicare and $1.5 trillion in cuts to Medicaid...https://patrioticmillionaires.org/2018/10/29/vote-as-i-say-not-as-i-do/
________________

- "Does the Gig Economy Mean It's Time For Medicare For All, By Charlie Simmons, Patriotic Millionaire, 2017.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/07/opinion-does-the-gig-economy-mean-its-time-for-medicare-for-all/
________________

- "More Americans Are Struggling Than This Administration Wants To Admit," Patriotic Millionaires Staff, Nov. 1, 2019.

..The poverty line frankly doesn’t tell the full story of how many Americans live in poverty. Federal assistance programs that thousands rely on like Head Start, Medicaid, the National School Lunch program, and Children’s health insurance program do not rely on poverty line measures to give assistance. The number of people who rely on these assistance programs is high, yet unemployment is low. This is because the government is inflating numbers and relying on an inaccurate system to measure poverty.

The government’s decision to cast a blind eye to these disparities and use a deeply flawed metric system is an intentional move to make the economy look better than it actually is. The reality is that if the economy was as strong as they claim, workers wouldn’t be striking so much, economic disparities wouldn’t be so high, and so many Americans wouldn’t have to rely on government assistance just to get by...
https://patrioticmillionaires.org/2019/11/01/more-americans-are-struggling-than-this-administration-wants-to-admit/

[Nay]

11. Thanks for that! I'm glad to see that they are doing more than getting everybody

hi-speed internet! It makes me feel better about this organization, but dang, can we stop acting like the internet is gonna solve anything? For every poor child who uses internet for school access, there are a thousand kids who can't tear themselves away from it and end up playing video games their whole childhoods.

[appalachiablue]

12. The internet is problematic in areas I agree, esp.

how dependent and addicted kids and some adults become from being online 10-12 hours a day.

It's moving faster than ever now, and critical to many parts of life, at least in my area. Property managers, utility cos. and creditors want you to do 'paperless' payment online now, nobody hardly uses or answers a phone esp. in customer service anymore even before Covid. Texting and emailing have almost completely replaced communication by telephone or letter mail for both business and personal matters.

I could go on all day and am struggling with a new computer after 7-8 years. The increase in complicated, additional features and procedures is staggering. Although I appreciate many aspects of the internet like the ability to research anything, watch videos, get incredible access to news sources. But I can't imagine what things will be like in 10 years.

Amazon just introduced a 'smart grocery shopping cart' with sensors and cameras that track and tally what you put in the cart, charges your account on file and eliminates 'long line waits' at checkout counters (and cashier jobs!). I just posted about this in the DU Latest Breaking News (LBN) section this week.

As far as the Patriotic Millionaires, I know some of the members have smart ideas and good suggestions for helping to combat the rampant inequality in our society. Abigail Disney, among others has been very outspoken about the need to raise taxes on the wealthy. There's a piece about her and many interesting articles to check out on their website: https://patrioticmillionaires.org/

[Dem2theMax]

10. I pay $29 a month for internet.

And I have their second lowest tier. But I can watch any videos I want with no problem. I don't have Wi-Fi. Not technologically inclined and haven't gotten around to have someone do whatever they need to do to get Wi-Fi in here for me.

Poor Verizon. They sold me an unlimited data plan. I tend to not watch videos on my phone until later in the evening. I have never noticed any throttling down. I pay $63 a month for the cell phone. And I'm on this phone all the time, with an unlimited data plan.