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[ NNSquad ] Re: [dave@farber.net: [IP] Re: BOY DO I AGREE WITH DAVID djf Senate Finance Committee's tax credits for broadband]
- To: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>
- Subject: [ NNSquad ] Re: [dave@farber.net: [IP] Re: BOY DO I AGREE WITH DAVID djf Senate Finance Committee's tax credits for broadband]
- From: Larry Press <lpress@csudh.edu>
- Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2009 09:14:46 -0800
- Cc: "nnsquad@nnsquad.org" <nnsquad@nnsquad.org>
I submit it contains NO ways in which creativity and entrepreneurship are
engaged. (and be clear, entrepreneurship is not a matter of greed for money
- it is a passion to realize ideas at scale).
The economic stimulus package is moving through congress. Republicans
are fighting it on the grounds that more tax cuts are needed and we need
more time to make sensible investments. I agree that we need to slow
down on broadband stimulus to consider ownership alternatives. Here is
the "elevator ride" pitch:
* The current strategy of privatization with hope for competition
under independent regulation has failed in many developed and developing
nations. In the US, regulators have been unable to create competition
and our infrastructure has suffered.
* The large broadband incumbents have benefited from public
subsidy, have failed to live up to commitments, and have used their
power to defeat attempts to create competition
* The US has little fiber in the access network today, but will
have fiber to all urban and many rural homes and buildings in the long
run. The question is not whether we are going to deploy new
infrastructure; the question is “who will own it?”
* We should take the time to evaluate decentralized alternatives to
near-total ownership by the incumbents. Local governments, cooperatives,
small ISPs, and home and building owners might own parts of our next
generation infrastructure.
* This evaluation can be fast and cheap. The work of the National
Science Foundation in designing and creating NSFNet and connecting
universities, colleges and foreign networks provides an excellent
example of a small government staff calling on experts from academia and
industry to design a network and a strategy for deploying it, followed
by procurement via competitive bid.
* We need immediate economic stimulus, but that can come from tax
cuts and investment in many sectors as well as broadband.
* Nobel economist Paul Krugman acknowledges the need for rapid
stimulus, but in this article he says we should downplay the “jump
start” metaphor and focus on job creation through infrastructure
investment over the next four plus years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/opinion/12krugman.html
* We will be living with the fiber and high-speed wireless
infrastructure we build today for many decades. We will also be living
with its owners.
Click here for a paper with details on the above.
http://bpastudio.csudh.edu/fac/lpress/draft/policygeneral.doc