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> there were significant collective benefits to near-universal electrification and phone service If we keep having to subsidise these areas because it is uneco
by Eridrus 8y ago
> there were significant collective benefits to near-universal electrification and phone service
If we keep having to subsidise these areas because it is uneconomical to build infrastructure there, and most new technologies require infrastructure development, does it really make sense for people to keep living there?
The Rural Electrification Act was also a work program in the middle of the Great Depression, so there were some pretty good reasons to do it back then besides just altruism.
Though I honestly think we don't actually even need real subsidies here, supporting municipal broadband providers and One Touch Make Ready regulation (which NY could have passed as a State without the FCC) would probably do more good than holding Spectrum's feet to the fire.
- lylecubed 8y ago> If we keep having to subsidise these areas because it is uneconomical to build infrastructure there, and most new technologies require infrastructure development, does it really make sense for people to keep living there? Do you like to eat? You can't run a farm inside a city. You also can't run a farm alone, so there needs to be a community and infrastructure around those farms.
- Eridrus 8y agoMost of these communities are not farming communities, most farms are huge multi-million dollar enterprises that do not need a broadband subsidy, food can be imported, there's a whole market for paying people for the food they produce, etc. This isn't about food nor farmers.