Internet II: Rebooting America: Getting Real and Getting It Right

Forbes Magazine ^ | 10 September 2001 | Michael S. Malone, Forbes ASAP, 09.10.01

[shrinkermd]

"The Internet isn't dead--it's molting. And what will come out of the chrysalis will be gigantic. Once again, let history be our guide. Every important digital technology over the past 50 years has seen an initial explosion of entrepreneurial activity, followed by a 90%-plus shakeout of the competitors (although only a small dip in revenues). But what is generally forgotten is that after the shakeout, the few remaining survivors enjoy exponential growth. Within a couple of years they are joined by a new generation of savvier young competitors. Meanwhile, over the subsequent two decades, the industry itself typically grows 100 times bigger".

[gusopol3]

Peak in 2004? just in time for Hillary , fresh from victory in '04 election chanting "it's the economy stupid," to cash in?

[Keyes2000mt]

No, what Forbes is saying is that the Economy will reach its height in 2004, but that the recovery will begin in a few months. Thus, this will be more of a Reagan '84 economy than a Bush '92 economy.

That's what Steve Forbes says anyway, and I tend to believe him.

[gusopol3]

the economy had been in recovery for a year prior to the '92 election. Anyway, the "infrastructure"-- wasn't that to be the core to the late , unlamented Clintoon "stimulus package" of '93?

[Diddle E. Squat]

Gee, isn't it such a bummer to go thru life lamenting how the glass is only 4/5th's full?

[Diddle E. Squat]

Methinks someone could make a bundle of money investing/creating an internet based home-schooling program.

[BrucefromMtVernon]

INFRASTRUCTURE. Now there's the stickler! The Forbes Magazine estimate of a $1.3 trillion infrastructure requirement is probably $7 trillion off the mark, because the Executive Intelligence Review estimate of America's infrastructure deficit is around $8 trillion. EIR discusses more than just roads and bridges. Their estimate includes harbors, railroad mileage, highways and bridges (already mentioned), electrical power production, water purification and distribution, land management; then there's the so-called social infrastructure which includes health-care delivery and education. For the past thirty-five years Americans have been looting the infrastructure built-up during the '50s and '60s, as well as destroying the machine-tool principle required by a healthy, modern economy; essentially a cancerous/cannibalistic feeding frenzy. Executive Intelligence Review calls this orgy of self-inflicted wounding "primitive accumulation". In order to find our way out of the current "pickle" we're in, we must toss the "IMF/World Bank/floating-exchange-rate/America-as-importer-to-the-world" scheme into the rubbish bin of history, never again to be repeated. For a truly American System of economics to take its place, Americans must disengage themselves from the Five Poisons which afflict today's economy: (1)Privatization, (2)Outsourcing, (3)De-regulation, (4)Free trade, and (5)Globalization. America's economy is in dire need of exchange controls (i.e., a New Bretton Woods agreement with fixed-exchange-rates among the currencies of sovereign nation-states), capital controls, credit controls and trade protectionism. Congress must reassert its Constitutional mandate to issue and control money. So much for Political Economy. Now PHYSICAL ECONOMICS IS THE SACRED SCIENCE OF THE ABUNDANT LIFE! It concerns itself with the ability of mankind (womankind included) to increase his power over nature as expressed in per capita and per square kilometer terms. One might write an entire encyclopedia about physical economics!

[gusopol3]

Do you mean, who cares who is President if the economy is good?

[HAL9000]

"The Forbes Magazine estimate of a $1.3 trillion infrastructure requirement is probably $7 trillion off the mark, because the Executive Intelligence Review estimate of America's infrastructure deficit is around $8 trillion."

That Lyndon LaRouche stuff ain't gonna fly here. I mostly like four of your so-called "Five Poisons". (I'll only agree about globalism - it's deadly poison.)

$1.3 trillion may be a little low, but $8 trillion is way too high. It would be more efficent to concentrate capital investment on our communications infrastructure and spend less in other areas.

[GretchenEE]

We have failed to re-asphalt the highway even as we were laying fiber optic cable down the shoulder. ... We are not prepared for this impending boom. We have no way to support it, to nourish it, even to reap its benefits. What will happen to Internet II, the fulfillment of the technological revolution, when our order sits on a runway behind 60 other planes awaiting takeoff, or on a stalled interstate? And how many batteries will we need to surf the Grid in the dark? Internet II is coming, but we aren't ready. If we aren't ready soon, we may have to wait until 2015 or 2020, and perhaps visit Frankfurt or Shanghai to see what we missed.

Very interesting read.

[GretchenEE]

fyi

[GretchenEE]

fyi

[BrucefromMtVernon]

I'd like to steer you to an early Saturday morning FReepost referring to the Republicans on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The Republicans are crafting a bill which would entail spending $71 billion for new rail construction to ease congested passenger and freight transport. Committee Chairman Don Young (R-AK) deserves a "Thank you".

[Snow Bunny]

Thank you for the ping.

[GretchenEE]

bump

[Mo1]

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[AntiScumbag]

Executive Intelligence Review

more garbage from lyndon larouche

Chairman Don Young (R-AK) deserves a "Thank you"

he deserves the raspberry, the feds have no business spending a dime on rail on any kind

[TheMole]

The "infrastructure" number is ridiculous. Congress has appropriated huge money for roads for the last several years. Not that I mind - it keeps Democrats from spending the money on counterproductive "social programs". Anybody who actually thinks the infrastructure is better in Frankfurt or Shanghai has probably never travelled to Europe or Asia. I don't mind a little optimism - right now we're in a period of irrational pessimism - but this piece is not up to the usual standards of Forbes.

[agitator]

What they're talking about reminds me of the old films from the 1939 World's Fair or the 1964 World's Fair. "The World of Tomorrow!"

Yeah, right.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

Say what?

You might have made a coherent case if you had used some specific examples of the problem and why current solutions are wrong. If you support a different economic approach, what specific alternatives do you recommend and how are they superior?