Free Republic

Rising higher education costs are damaging the United States' ability to compete globally, especially in the areas of science and technology, according to experts who testified before the Senate Finance Committee Thursday. Less student interest in the fields of science and math, and decreases in the number of doctorate degrees being awarded in science are also harmful, said panelists at the hearing. And the complexities of federal aid programs make it less likely those programs will be beneficial. We either drive it [higher education] or we're going to be driven by the global competition, said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who...

Broadband to the boonies Can high-speed Net connections prevent the heartland from emptying out? September 25, 2003 One of the most ambitious plans to jump-start American productivity comes not from a startup in Silicon Valley or a boardroom on Wall Street. Instead, it is taking root just north of a sugar beet field in Bismarck, North Dakota. It is there that Extend America will begin its drive to provide wireless high-speed Internet access to hundreds of thousands of rural people who still tap their own wells for water and may drive 60 miles to buy groceries. “The real digital divide...

SEOUL, South Korea--As Cho Won Hee zips effortlessly from one Web site to another, his doting mother at his side, it is easy to understand why Silicon Valley views South Korea as the promised land of instant access to the Internet. The Chos' high-speed digital line--100 times faster than the typical dial-up connection in the United States--is their zippy gateway to home entertainment, education and shopping, all for $32 a month. And despite the relatively recent arrival of such connections, the Chos, like many Koreans, are already as addicted to their broadband hookup as most Americans are to their television...

Korean Broadband Explosion George Gilder & Charlie Burger, Gilder Technology Report, 08.27.03, 7:00 AM ET While the U.S. has supplied a meager form of broadband to 20 million households (20% of the total), Korea has connected some 11 million households (73% of the Korean total) with real multimegabit pipes. While the U.S. pretends that the Internet boom was a scam and a delusion, the Koreans now run one-third of their economic transactions through the Net. They execute 70% of their stock trades on the Net, half of all banking transactions, and constant retail orders around the clock for everything from...