Stimulating broadband deployment
This letter has not been edited
Brian Schwartz, Boulder
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Jeff Smith writes that CU law professor Phil Weiser"would like to see public rather than industry funds used to stimulate broadband deployment, arguing that such services are for the general good of society” (March 10). This is journalistic smoke and mirrors.
Extending broadband access to rural and remote areas is not a choice between"public” and “industry” funding. Since “the public” both pays taxes and funds industry when buying products, it pays either way. The choice is between voluntary trade and coercion.
Aesop’s fable of the City Mouse and Country Mouse is about trade-offs. If government should force City Mouse to buy broadband internet for Country Mouse, must Country Mouse buy City Mouse therapeutic getaways to the countryside?
If broadband access is for “the general good of society” what isn’t? Since a smelly, dirty, and immobile populace is surely “bad for society,” how about tax subsidies for soap, deodorant, and shoes?
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March 21, 2008
7:20 a.m.
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Earl writes:
can anyone imagine that a liberal law professor at cu would say something like this? wow that the public must fund, through higher taxes, broadband for everyone. I wonder if everyone will then be a .gov or .edu?
no thanks I will just buy my own but I would like free oil changes. can you work on that one phil?