As recently as 2001, the percentage of the population with high-speed access in Japan and Germany was only half that in the United States. In France it was less than a quarter. By the end of 2006, however, all three countries had more broadband subscribers per 100 people than we did.
Even more striking is the fact that our “high speed” connections are painfully slow by other countries’ standards. According to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, French broadband connections are, on average, more than three times as fast as ours. Japanese connections are a dozen times faster.
article by Paul Krugman
thanks Conscientious
~I experience the greedy results of Bush's broadband give-away (or take-over) everyday. I wonder how much total time I spend every week waiting to get online, then waiting for a link to open then waiting for a page to download?
When I'm not feeling ashamed for being a corporate dupe and a pawn for profits, I think of this time waiting for connections as "free market meditation". During which I might for example reflect upon how the freedom of the free market transmutes itself through a myriad mysterious ways into stock dividends for investors to play-with and enjoy while simultaneously increasing prices for goods and services, like health care, education, transportation (the internet!) and food, millions of people without stock portfolios must purchase.
Posted by Stubbornson at July 23, 2007 09:19 AM