Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: Shovel-ready broadband stimulus
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 7 May 2009 12:55:54 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: "Mike Todd" <miketodd () miketodd com> Date: May 7, 2009 12:05:12 PM EDT To: <dave () farber net> Subject: Re: [IP] Shovel-ready broadband stimulus Dwayne,I am hoping your much more workable approach gets some reasonable chance of becoming a reality.
Even though the technical aspects do not seem to have a prayer of having a chance of providing some reason to the process, getting it out of the hands of "big money", "big government" and the "political playground" would, at the very least, be a step in a much better direction!
Mike Todd President, Mike Todd Associates - www.MikeTodd.com President, Internet Society Los Angeles Chapter - www.ISOC-LA.org toddm () isoc-la org Founder, Digital Divide Task Force, www.ddtf.org (undergoing updates) miketodd () ddtf org Western Trade Adjustment Assistance Center (Western TAAC) Phoenix, Arizona program expansion center Western Research Application Center, Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Farber" <dave () farber net> To: "ip" <ip () v2 listbox com> Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 08:14 Subject: [IP] Shovel-ready broadband stimulus
Begin forwarded message: From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks) Date: May 6, 2009 2:21:54 PM EDT To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Shovel-ready broadband stimulus SHOVEL-READY BROADBAND STIMULUS[Commentary] The $7.2 billion broadband stimulus will not achieve what it advertises for the US economy. Firms that had been building rural broadband networks have reportedly halted operations, circling back to Washington. Ultimately, the $7.2bn will be awarded in "beauty contests," where bureaucrats examine competing proposals and make their picks based on their values, mood, and whim. A group of 71 economists expert in telecommunications policy, including two Nobel Laureates (and this author), have urged a different approach, "reverse auctions." The government would state its performance criteria and then take bids, selecting the lowest price offers. The proposal has only a remote chance of being adopted because it is both transparent and economical. Having to make goals objective and explicit takes the discretionary political fun away. And assigning rights by competitive bidding is like having a fraternity party without any beer at all.<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/af900dd0-3699-11de-af40-00144feabdc0.html> RSS Feed: <http://www.warpspeed.com/wordpress> ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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Current thread:
- Shovel-ready broadband stimulus David Farber (May 07)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Shovel-ready broadband stimulus David Farber (May 07)
- Re: Shovel-ready broadband stimulus David Farber (May 07)
- Re: Shovel-ready broadband stimulus David Farber (May 07)
- Re: Shovel-ready broadband stimulus David Farber (May 11)