What would be the impact if the government, instead of selling off their airwaves, used some to establish a free, secure, nationwide, high-speed, broadband wifi network?
And a mandatory and funded school-issued laptop for every child, and a one-time $500 tax credit to buy a computer?
What would happen if everyone, everywhere in the US had free access to the internet?
By 2012?
The US, with 100% broadband penetration. Not 21%. 100%.
Man, I wish the US would dream big again.
We used to.
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55 comments:
Then we'd have Government-regulated internet. I really don't want that. They've screwed up enough things as it is, there's no need for them to screw up cyberspace as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsqhjB2I2dU
Keith said: "Man, I wish the US would dream big again."
That's precisely what America needs now. A real vision. A real split from Washington's biz as usual. Something in line with Reagan's "Mr. Gorbatchev, tear down that wall," or MLK's "I have a dream," or FDR's "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," or JFK's "ask not what your country can do for you,' (picked from Kahli Gibran--but still), etc.
Obama's "Yes We Can" is not bad at all, but it must be coupled with deeds. So far, Obama's actions and plans do not meet those historic words. I hope he proves me wrong after he takes charge of the country's business.
There's nothing wrong with supporting a candidate and then stay on his back after he's elected. The push for change did not stop at the voting booth. It's a continuous struggle against those fdormidable forces that are still fighting change. The real concern is that Obama falls into their trap and forgets his promises to the American people.
Most of us have that and more.
The problem is what to do with the ne'er-do-wells who don't do for themselves.
Unless you're OK with subsidizing degeneracy, I would simply say that every person is guaranteed subsistence but not a middle class lifestyle.
We have to learn how to tell people "no".
They know Ron Paul would have won if everyone had internet. So as DDM said they would naturally regulate the internet to keep the NWO in power and make it another propaganda puppet like CNN, MSNBC, Faux, etc.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430484/
Nah. Its much easier to control scared sheep, than lead free people.
Ummm... You can't force people to be smarter. Folks who want it have it. Folks who don't aren't interested or would only use it to read the national enquirer online and watch Everyone loves Raymond on youtube.
>Nah. Its much easier to control scared sheep, than lead free people.
Dude, the sheep do pretty much the same thing whether they're scared or not. They walk or run around in a group keyed on what the group is doing.
Just a thought ...
Like a smoking gun, in the wrong hands, the internet was used for harm.
I wonder how much the internet and computers multiplied the credit problem with it's ease and convenience. Just a few clicks and people, banks,etc. were compounding this problem. How come the internet doesn't get any blame? The internet was the gun while banks supplied bullets and consumers/investors squeezed billions of triggers.
Keith, you have been drinking too much of that Obama Kool Aid again. What good will a 100% free hi fi internet do for an economy that is falling apart?
We are dreaming big. That dream is to create all of our energy and produce most of our goods and food. Sorry folks, but that's this generations' Moon Shot. It's not as exciting but much more important.
Most of the US has cable tv now, so they will have the internet soon enough. It's still not a necessity.
I don't need Uncle Sam manipulating my internet connection. I already have Redflex Traffic Control Systems watching my every move on the road and flunkies at work monitoring all my phone calls. I think "1984" is here and it came so slowly and silently that we all missed it.
Why can't our leaders understand that we simply can't spend our way out of an economic downturn? Whatever happened to the concept of "creative destruction"?
The path towards prosperity for our economy is for us to live below our means, save our money and pay off our huge national, personal and corporate debt.
Question of the day:
Who is the greediest of them all?
a)People who invest in real-estate
b)People who invest in gold
Nothing funnier than the moonfraud nuts.
Loved 72-year-old Buzz Aldrin duking out one particularly pesky wacko.
"...You're a coward, and a liar, and a thiUmmmff!..."
What would happen?
Well, I can think of a few things:
1) A massively regulated, government-censored Internet with restrictions on content that could be viewed based on political correctness, monitoring of e-mail, etc. and banning of unpopular ideas;
2) Even more massive debt and deficits;
3) Surging unemployment as the government's socialized wireless system puts real innovators like Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T out of business;
4) Dodgy favoritism for certain PC manufacturers who get the big contracts at the expense of other manufacturers;
5) Massive tax increases.
Some "big dreaming." Every single project like what you propose has failed -- including the highly touted French "Minitel" program of the 1980s.
I don't want to "dream big" with other peoples' money. I want an end to ridiculous utopian schemes -- which, after all, helped get us INTO this mess.
"Every American should be able to buy a house regardless of income, ability to pay, or cost of the house" was a "big dream" too, and look where THAT got us.
Someone pleeeze fix my problems!
How bout the goberment?
Them darn bankers; if it was not for them I would have been happy to live on the streets!
Someone else out there, its your fault.
NOT MINE.
Lets blame our lack of success on a secret group of ‘elitists’ that control the whole world from underground castles.
And while we’re at it don’t let those who did not make me rich get away with it,Lock em up! hang em!
Why, me responsible for my own actions?
I had no clue I would have to pay back the money I borrowed to buy gold.
Boy, am I naïve, I don’t even know on how many web sites are out there proving with all kinds of theories that there is a secret group controlling everything,
Hush hush.
So we've finaly reached the point were the ‘get rich over night in real-estate’ folks,
are all now ‘get rich over night in gold’.
Much easier for the gov to watch you if they had complete control of the broadband. Free laptops to all kids would make it a lot easier to get to the porn sites too. Yep I'm all fer it. I'm sure they would love to get that entry right into every home in the US.
Didn't you learn anything from the internets bubble? Internet is a toy. A shiny high-tech toy. It doesn't provide any f*cking new feature. It just change the way you comunicate.
On the plus side :
-Free porn
-Free music
-Free movies
That about sums it up.
we dreamed; now we need to manifest the reality but it's hard and resource intensive. simply learning how to be happy might be easier.
'A car in every garage'?
How about 'a bus pass in every pocket'?
The internet is knowledge escaped.
And for those of you worried about government control of the internet, you're being too tactical. Think big.
If you're concerned about that, then have the government build it, then turn it over to a private non-profit institution made up of scholars and scientists.
Man, I wish there were more big thinkers on this blog. Feeling a bit lonely out here.
I agree - time to update this 1930's pitch.
How about
An organic free-range chicken in every pot. A RFID-enabled light-rail pass in every wallet. And free blazing-fast broadband internet for all.
How's that?
Why not a rocket ship to urANUS with George Bushco as pilot and the cowardly lion Cheneyburton as co-pilot?
I volunteer to calculate the fuel for the return to earth - whoops, I guess my math fundamentals were not sound after all. Let those two dolts circle outer space until they meet their maker. It's the only place they can be to not continue devastating the Nation with their thuggery.
DO NOT FORGET WHO CAUSED THIS CATASTROPHE. GEORGE AND DICK ARE GUILTY.
To those GOP voters that have lost their homes and are destitute, your realtor is to blame. They are guilty too. Blame your 6% Realtor, and your stupidity and greed.
Enjoy the holidays in your aunts basement. Tough to explain this to the kids, eh? Too F-ing Bad Dumbell. Go take a ride to Wal-Mart in the Hummer, after all gas is back down now. They have great cheesedoodles and fried dough on Sundays. The soup kitchen lines begin at 7:00. NASCAR rerun at 11:00. Watch closely, maybe there will be a new winner? lol.
Why not just end it all? You have wrecked your and your families life and their future keeping up with the neighbors on no income. Make sure you jump from a height that will do a proper job. Put the small kids up for adoption. Take the teenagers with you...
YOU deserve everything you have coming and MORE. You screwed the pooch and now IT IS TIME TO PAYBACK.
YOU ARE DOOMED.
PUNISH THE GUILTY.
How very appropriate Keith - free range chickens...
Hmmm...
Free range does not mean Freedom...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P772Eb63qIY
(as a note keith - homo sapien have never once stepped foot on the moon)
And just when I thought you were "getting it".
Oh well.
I quit!
OK, how about:
Some tofu and couscous on every table. A RFID-enabled light-rail pass in every wallet. And free blazing-fast broadband internet for all.
Maybe with free internet then more people would be aware of the Obama "not a natural born citizen of the US" scandal. This blog has been pretty quiet about that? Hummmmm.
Keith, may I humbly suggest that you ask for big ideas from your readers.
Who knows? Something brilliant might pop up.
Yeah, the US used to dream big because it was prosperous and wealthy and could afford to dream big and piss away hundreds of billions of dollars on grand schemes.
Well all of that dreaming big is why America is broke today.
Y'know, all the trillions spent on empire, defense spending, aggressive wars, futzing about with the internal affairs of foreign nations, big unsustainable government programs etc etc.
Would a computer in every house and free broadband internet make a difference to America. Maybe. But who is to decide? You Keith? Do you want to just go live in the Soviet Union and see how central planning works out. Oh, that's right. You can't because it doesn't exist any more.
Grow a brain buddy. The reason why free markets are necessary is because society and economies are so complex that they can not possibly be regulated by a bunch of big idea dreamers and bureacrats like you Keith. You might think your ideas are glorious but you have no moral authority to dictate that tax dollars should be spent on putting a computer in every house or providing broadband internet for free when there is a massive homeless person problem in every city and even war veterans are treated like complete crap.
Free markets must be allowed to operate without the intervention of do-gooders and big dreamers like yourself. Let people have more of their hard earned money back and they'll buy themselves a computer if they want one. And they won't end up with some mass produced government sanctioned PC configuration that is slow and doesn't work.
A truly free society doesn't need big dreamers like you Keith. In a free and dynamic society it is the individuals that comprise that society that make that society great. It is not ideologues, "leaders" and demagogues like you Keith.
Our "leaders" (CEOs and financial execs) only focus is "the bottom line" and profit for themselves. In the current model the "common good" is not profitable so it does not exist as part of their "vision" for this country...
Hence, education, infrastructure, real jobs, etc. have all suffered at the expense of "profits" sucked up by a very small elite group of fat white maggots who have gained complete control of this country.
In such a climate, one has to look at ANYTHING proposed by such a leadership and ask suspiciously "what is in it for them?". If "free internet" was suddenly bestowed upon us, it would most assuredly come with strings attached. The goal is always Parasites 1/Sheeple 0.
Until Wallstreet/Banks/FED stop running this country into the ground...a true "common good" cannot be achieved. It is that simple.
While the poor and stupid masses focus their time and energy looking backwards and seeking revenge (aka justice) on those they perceive as responsible for their lack of success; the forward looking goal oriented individuals (future successful ‘nwo etc. conspirators’) are steadily moving forward, accumulating a life of abundance, love and joy.
High income does not necessarily
mean smart and responsible:
http://tinyurl.com/6mon75
Excessive leveraging (using the house as an ATM machine) was done at all levels.
Actually, Obama's emphasis on the internet is a good idea. The internet will ultimately evolve into something else. Yes, it was invented in France, but once Americans got their hands on the concept, the brightest people on earth made what it is today. Like it or not, the internet is the future, and no country like America can drive that beast to new realms that are unthinkable today.
Think direct mass communication (replacing MSM forever); virtual workplace (17% of IBM employees work from home via the internet); e-Gov; e-Commerce; remote learning, and much more... I'd say yes to Obama on this.
Not only it will create jobs for the brightest, it will also change our way of life: Paperless business environment (saving some trees); less traffic jams by commuters; universal learning (people stay home with their kids, as parents work from home while the kids are hooked up to learning centers by broadsband and interactive connections); no MSM BS anymore, as bloggers become the the kings of news and entertainment...
Think about it folks! This is without taking into account that some kid, somewhere, might come up with something that will revolutionize the internet, making it much more powerful, much more useful for all of mankind.
I'd say "go for it Obama!" But we need more of this kind of thinking.
All this centralized planning is starting to look like the old USSR, that sure was a great success!
Why not take a page from Willie Nelsons book and sans the corporate fascist farm model and put "the people" back on the farms.
The way it is now in "the fascist homeland", is corporations = government = bankers = unemployment.
I really don't see much new employment with a bigger internet system, hell, most people get so frustrated with computers they want to throw them out the window anyway.
It's too bad people don't listen to guys like Willie, he's the modern day Will Rogers, plain as dirt, common sense man. The GQ's are the ones providing the big monolithic business idea, where they conduit the wealth thru the government into their control and international conglomerates, it should be obvious now with the bailouts.
Pretty harsh words, but truer words couldn't have been said.
We're in a very,very,very bad mess here,
and I'm seeing and hearing from more and more well-to-do (on paper) folks here in HB who are really suffering.
These are people who invested heavily in the markets and who have lost most of their retirement savings.
There really was greed and stupidity at all levels, and we're all paying for it in some form, with the majority of the debt falling on the backs of our future generations - a definite crime against humantity.
Lets hope the Obama administration comes up with a real plan that helps the everyday consumer.
Because without that, we will be facing some really nasty economic times for years to come.
Anonymous said...
Why not a rocket ship to urANUS with George Bushco as pilot and the cowardly lion Cheneyburton as co-pilot?
I volunteer to calculate the fuel for the return to earth - whoops, I guess my math fundamentals were not sound after all. Let those two dolts circle outer space until they meet their maker. It's the only place they can be to not continue devastating the Nation with their thuggery.
DO NOT FORGET WHO CAUSED THIS CATASTROPHE. GEORGE AND DICK ARE GUILTY.
To those GOP voters that have lost their homes and are destitute, your realtor is to blame. They are guilty too. Blame your 6% Realtor, and your stupidity and greed.
Enjoy the holidays in your aunts basement. Tough to explain this to the kids, eh? Too F-ing Bad Dumbell. Go take a ride to Wal-Mart in the Hummer, after all gas is back down now. They have great cheesedoodles and fried dough on Sundays. The soup kitchen lines begin at 7:00. NASCAR rerun at 11:00. Watch closely, maybe there will be a new winner? lol.
Why not just end it all? You have wrecked your and your families life and their future keeping up with the neighbors on no income. Make sure you jump from a height that will do a proper job. Put the small kids up for adoption. Take the teenagers with you...
YOU deserve everything you have coming and MORE. You screwed the pooch and now IT IS TIME TO PAYBACK.
YOU ARE DOOMED.
PUNISH THE GUILTY.
Dream big? You mean the government pay for gas, electricity etc.? That would be another case of socialism and the government shorting another buisiness sector at tax payer expense.
I wish the private sector would dream big and fulfill its purpose rather than spinning a situation where we need to bail them all out.
Where is your dream money comming from anyways?
One more suggestion, please?
Could you ask the Anonymous (again) to choose a name for themselves?
Thanks
re:"Free markets must be allowed to operate without the intervention of..."(insert demon of the day here)
Complete and utter nonsense that is COMPLETELY eviscerated in James Galbraith's book "Predator State".
Well, it doesn't matter what we do now. The Chinese have decided to devalue their currency, and screw the western world. Our Chinese overlords have decreed that they are going it alone, and if it means world ecomonic collapse, so be it.
Now Billy Clinton and Gerogie Bush, would you two now care to explain why was it you both wanted to assist China in becoming an economic competitor to the USA?
My kids attend a lap top school -students do their work via a laptop each day starting in 3rd grade. The program has proven to be a major disappointment. The kids lose their laptops, break them, forget to charge them, are frequently caught surfing the net rather than doing work, and time in class is wasted on computer issues rather than teaching the basics like how to form a sentence and solve math problems.
We finally opted out and focused on getting back to pencil to paper and our kids' school performance improved.
We found that the lap tops were a big distraction that got in the way of learning rather than helped it.
Psst- The Sabbath was yesterday
I would not want the govt. providing internet service...at all. It has no constitutional authority to be in this type of business and its involvement would have many negative impacts, including issues around privacy and destroying competition, which has brought about great innovations.
True, the defense dept was instrumental in getting the internet going (DARPA), but that was for military purposes. For civilian purposes it is best for the private sector to be in control of the internet.
also, having the govt. own the internet would just be another nail in the coffin of liberty, freedom, and capitalism. It would just be another phase of the socialization of America.
The big advances in the internet have come about because of the private sector, not because of govt. Having the govt. control the internet will stop innovation in its tracks and we will get less or no future value from it.
if it's not something that can be shipped out to taiwan, china, india or mexico so the manufactors can pay 50 cent an hour and make billions to buy 20 million dollar houses and 250,000 cars then there will be no interest. yes, you are dreaming, these people want to import labor from India because they say this is where the best talent is. so they have absolutely no interest in teaching american kids anything, something like how the black americans have been abandoned. Deal with it.
Anon said:
"Now Billy Clinton and Gerogie Bush, would you two now care to explain why was it you both wanted to assist China in becoming an economic competitor to the USA?"
It is a fact that before joining Bushco, Paulson traveled on behalf of Goldman (Sucks) 80 times to China!
It is a mistery why the US Gov willingly exported its people's wealth to China. That mistery may never be solved or explained.
Remember also that Henry Kissinger has been for many years(and still is) the chief lobbyist for the Chinese Gov in Washington!
Just join the dots together and fill the blanks, you might stumble upon the reason behind this historic transfer of wealth and the fleecing of America.
(By the way Keith, nobody ever mentions Kissinger's role in this debacle!! Just curious).
Hey Keith! Is Obama reading S&A? He apparently came out swinging today:
He told Brokaw that decisions based on where to focus infrastructure improvements would be based on merit, and “not in the old, traditional politics-first way.”
In an unambiguous brush-back to his former colleagues Obama said, “You know, the days of just pork coming out of Congress as a strategy, those days are over.”
Now we are talking!
The future of the US is bleak unless less becomes more. Fixing roads , schools, and upgrading everyone's computer connection WILL NOT FIX THE MESS WE ARE IN AS LONG AS IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN, AND ALL OTHER IMPERIALISTIC VENURES CONTINUE. PERIOD.
Complete and utter nonsense that is COMPLETELY eviscerated in James Galbraith's book "Predator State".
Oh really. COMPLETELY eviscerated huh? Well why is that you can't even provide a simple breakdown of the arguments presented in this supposedly groundbreaking book that destroys the idea of free markets forever?
Yeah, let's add these new big idea government programs to those astoundingly successful one's we have already:
"The Global War on Terror"
"The Ownership Society"
"The War on Drugs"
"No Child Left Behind"
"The War on Poverty"
And now Keith's new Big Bright Ideas to Make America America Again:
"The War on Dialup"
"The Computer Ownership Society"
Bwahahahaha!!
Keep up the great ideas, Keith!
"...The reason why free markets are necessary is because society and economies are so complex that they can not possibly be regulated by a bunch of big idea dreamers and bureacrats...
...Free markets must be allowed to operate without the intervention of do-gooders and big dreamers..."
HEAR HEAR!!!
Not. A. Penny. to any sniveling Corporate Welfare Queens. By all means, threaten and hold us hostage.
If only we'd had less regulation, we never would've been in this mess, right?
"...looking backwards and seeking revenge..."
Looking FORWARD: Get your hand out of my grandchildren's pockets and pay your own bills.
What kind of business do you run that cannot?
Here's a FANTASTIC clip from Everyone loves Raymond.
A pure classic. It's imparative that all dolts and toolbags in the country can view RETARDED film clips with a fast connection. It would change everything.
Enjoy! It doesn't get any better than this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-exkwsGjNc
Iconobamaism!
Coconutz!
The private sector is not going to build roads and bridges and schools
and new sewers and all the things that are crumbling .There are some things that the government is in charge of building.This would be a good time to spend taxpayer funds on
these projects to create jobs .
Maybe the government should promote the buying of Domestic cars by a tax incentive . At least that way we might get back some of the money that we lent the BIG 3 /
Maybe the Government should just start promoting anything that aids American Citizens instead of Wall Street and the Corporations with their quest for slave labor and
emerging market globalism and fake ponzi-schemes .
While I'm all for any Country of the World advancing and therefore
giving more to their people in terms of wages and benefits : I'm not for this absurd idea you can mix different Countries economies
without having the same wages and
rules of the game .
When the rules of Capitalism were established in America during its History ,it did not include a gaming of the system by Corporations in that they give the jobs to foreign labor and manufacturing ,that get to sell to Americans .
America became strong and mighty by producing its own shit and having laws and wages that allowed the middle class to prosper . Other Countries have the rich and the poor and that is it .
Someone has to pay for the "free" internet.
Folks, laptops are ~$300, on the low end or refurbished markets. There's no need for a subsidy there. Otherwise, the ones with cash will use it to get a discount off a $1.5K hi-performance gaming console.
A lot of rural towns are already setting themselves up as free wireless hubs, to attract businesses. This isn't new, we probably just need a few entreprenuers to travel out to the boonies in Maine or Kentucky to set up a national grid of wireless hotspots. This isn't thinking big.
Thinking big is going for the next wave that's commercially feasible out in the future but not economical for the regular corporation in the near term. Big science is not driven by the next PC application. It would be like new materials for a space elevator; actually molecular engineering models, not just gimmicks like spelling IBM in a microscope. And then let's stop this nonsense about free energy; the oil & natural gas companies don't care for it. Let's look more at things like mobile power, new generation batteries/capacitors, microwave emittors, etc. This can then deliver power to remote cities, R&D facilities, etc w/o expanding the grid.
It's kinda like this... when the born agains started to block most embryonic stem cell work, the scientists moved on to adult stem cells, and huge breakthroughs were made in the past 3-4 years at redirecting them to tissue regeneration. Likewise, we don't need political spin doctors to generate a science program like 'One Laptop per child' when laptops cost $300 or Hydrogen gas pumps when gas is <$2 per gallon.
"in the sixth decade of the 20th century, the ancient dream was to become a reality"
Actually, 1969 was in the seventh decade, not the sixth. Glad the narrarator wasn't on the engineering team...
:D
Mike
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