Posted on 04/17/2011 5:22:50 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
A new report says that $64 million in federal stimulus money meant to bring broadband to rural parts of Gallatin County was awarded to an area that already had ample access to high-speed Internet service.
Of the 9,035 households in Opticom's proposed service area, the report's authors claim, only 136 are "unserved" by broadband, according to definitions established by the USDA's Rural Utilities Service, or RUS, which awarded the stimulus money through its Broadband Initiatives Program.
Two other broadband projects were highlighted in the report, one in northwestern Kansas and another in northeastern Minnesota. Together, the three projects analyzed account for $231.7 million out of the $3.5 billion awarded by the RUS for rural broadband projects.
According to the report, more than 85 percent of households in the three project areas already had access to existing broadband services.
(Excerpt) Read more at bozemandailychronicle.com ...
Government Spending = Waste
Stuff like this won’t ever happen when the government gains complete control of the health care industry. [/s]
Yeah, I'm old enough to remember my parents having to pony up, along with our neighbors, for a six-party line to be run to our homes. Just thought of something, perhaps telephone party lines were the genesis of social networking? Everyone certainly knew what was going on with everyone else LOL :)
I read an analysis of where FDR spent his “stimulus” funds; WPA, etc. FDR’s support was strongest in the poor Appalachian mountains. Yet the most money was spent in relatively wealthy Republican districts where FDR needed to win votes. The Appalachians literally starved while the FDR presidency arranged the wholesale slaughter of millions of cattle and pigs to raise the price of meat. That’s right, raise prices. The political (non-market) economic policies are insane.
I recently read an economist who suggested the government buy or condemn millions of unoccupied homes and raze them to the ground. That would stimulate economic activity by giving contractors the opportunity to build.
“I recently read an economist who suggested the government buy or condemn millions of unoccupied homes and raze them to the ground. That would stimulate economic activity by giving contractors the opportunity to build.”
Where’s Bastiat when you need him? The only scenario where this would help is if these homes were so run-down (crawling with rats, toxic mold, etc) that they depress the prices of neighboring houses.
I’m sure the Democrat Party will make good use of that taxpayer money in next year’s elections in Montana. The Porkulus Bill was simply a money laundering operation for BO to finance 2012 Democrat campaigns nationwide.
Note these same rural areas are underserved by Starbucks, large shopping malls and major medical centers. Should in the name of fairness we spend trillions to supply those things too?
In my family, it was the genesis of a family percussion band. The neighbors were forever leaving their phone off the hook and when Dad needed to make an important call, he'd pass out pots and pans to all of us and we'd bang merrily away trying to make a racket that could be heard through the receiver.
It never worked. He would eventually get in the car and drive up the road stopping at each house till he found the offender.
What? The cows need broadband? So they can play their computer games faster? Be careful that you don’t step in that broadband when you go into the field with the bulls.
Silly Republicans. This waasn’t about what was “needed” by the public but rather by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), whose “needs” were satisfied very nicely by this boondoggle.
You can never have too much glass in the ground.
Note these same rural areas are underserved by Starbucks, large shopping malls and major medical centers.
I know a lot of people who have spent good bit of money to get away from all that,and they say life is much better.
Rural broadband is not to give rural people internet...it is to provide a way for the GOV to tax you every mile that you drive and to relay information about your driving habits and whereabouts to law inforcement and insurance companies.
We are a small town Internet Access provider that has been serving broad band (high speed) in our area for YEARS. In addition to us, there are two other companies providing here, not to mention the satellite broad band providers. Frontier gets “awarded”(?) hundreds of millions of dollars via the Rural Broad Band Initiative grant to “bring” broad band here, and proceeds to practically give away Internet access because, hey, they don’t need to actually turn a profit. So they bury one local ISP, and take a huge percentage of our customers.
Exactly how are we supposed to compete against the biggest, wealthiest organization in the world (the U.S. Government)?
THIS is economic stimulus?
THIS is America?
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