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

well,

[edlinfan]

The price is high and the service is poor, but there's nowhere else to go.

How about Europe or Japan?

Re:well,

[aplusjimages]

I voted with my wallet. I canceled all my services from broadband to phone service. I had to write a letter to Slashdot and the editors there are posting this for me. Thanks in advance.

Choice

[Duncan3]

I have plenty of choices. There is the 768k plan, the 1.5Mbit plan, the 3Mbit plan and the 6Mbit plan from AT&T.

The difference between countiries

[m_evanchik]

Is anyone really surprised that the French, Germans, Koreans, and Japanese are beating us at downloading copious amounts of porn? Different countries have different priorities. Once the British and French outdid us in useless foreign military adventures, now we have them handily beat in that arena.

It takes all kinds in this crazy world of ours.

Re:It could be worse

[seanadams.com]

only last week at the body corporate meeting did we (the resident owners who bothered to turn up) manage to reach an agreement that the monopoly situation was of no benefit to the residents nor the owners.

Right! This calls for immediate discussion!

Yeah.

What?!

Immediate.

Right.

New motion?

Completely new motion, eh, that, ah-- that there be, ah, immediate action--

Ah, once the vote has been taken.

Well, obviously once the vote's been taken. You can't act another resolution till you've voted on it...

Godwin time!

[Stevecrox]

It was proportion representative government which put Hitler in charge! Its evil I tell you!

Re:It's possible

[SnapShot]

Thanks a lot. You just made me cry into my morning coffee. Now, why don't you make us all feel really bad and describe all on the 6 foot blond models who hang around your town. Or the universal health care. Or the eight weeks of vacation.

At least we have lots of aircraft carriers.

Re:Monopolies will form, regardless.

[cmdr_tofu]

Who modded this nitwit informative?
Anarchists don't blow up factories. Those are nihilists and luddites not anarchists! Anarchists believe in establishing a decentralized structure so that the profits of the factory go to the workers and all decisions are made by consensus!

You fail to grasp the concepts of peace, love and anarchy! So, you are hardly qualified to use them in your comparisons!

Re:Monopolies will form, regardless.

[CmdrGravy]

Who modded this nitwit informative ?
Nihilists don't blow up factories ! Those are fiedists, not nihilists. Nihilists simply don't see the point in blowing anything up and believe the workers and owners should simply give it all up since it doesn't matter anyway !

You fail to grasp the utter pointlessness of nihilism so you're hardly qualified to use them in your post.