Krugman On the Connectivity Power Shift

In today's NYTimes (registration required), Paul Krugman's op-ed piece lays out in simple terms the statistical power shift in the online economy among Europe, Japan, and the US. This shift has been discussed here for some time, but it's good to see it coming to the attention of a wider audience. Quoting: "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... [W]hen the Bush administration put Michael Powell in charge of the FCC, the digital robber barons were basically set free to do whatever they liked. As a result, there's little competition in U.S. broadband — if you're lucky, you have a choice between the services offered by the local cable monopoly and the local phone monopoly. The price is high and the service is poor, but there's nowhere else to go."

Comments

Krugman's a fruit

[siphonophore]

The subject stands alone.

On the topic of broadband access, he's wrong in my opinion. The US lags because we set up our telcom infrastructure the first, and thus have the most primitive last-mile connections. Throw in some wide distances between communities and you have the situation we have today.

Re:Krugman's a fruit

[arpad1]

Well if a bald-faced lie is acceptable then what's the rest of the column worth? Is it reasonable to assume any of the assertions in the column are anything but more bald-faced lies or a judicious mix of lies, half-lies and might-as-well-be lies?

and is considered one of the country's foremost neo-Keynesian economists.

Well now there's a distinction. Maybe he could get together with the country's foremost phlogiston chemist, Lysenkoist evolutionary biologist, heliocentric astronomer and Aristotlean physicist to form MIT Lite wherein you could study toward an advanced degree in discarded ideas from the leading lights in each field. Oh yeah, probably should include Marxist economists as well although that's a contradiction in terms.

Krugman is a Noam Chomsky wannabe. Taking a page from the master's book he's built a successful career pandering to the left edge of the political spectrum by churning out boilerplate columns such as this one. For an ambitious guy it's a much safer route to success then the con games that are more distinctly criminal. Easier as well.

Really?

[omaha_boy]

Did anyone actually think that the GWB (George W. Bush, or Great White Baddie --- whichever you prefer) administration would want widespread high-speed access to an infrastructure that supports uncensored dissemination of information? Knowledgeable masses are scary to social conservatives.