dmv wrote:
] ] Like many urban myths, we have come to believe that US is
] ] a broadband laggard. Often pundits hold up the shining
] ] examples of South Korea and Japan as countries that are
] ] miles ahead of the US. Media is quick to point out that
] ] even puny Singapore and Belgium are ahead of US in terms
] ] of broadband penetration. I know, I have often said so,
] ] and have been wrong.

Om, you are missing the point completely. The arguement is not about what way to slice the statistics. The point is that we are not in possession of the correct policy as a nation. Arguing about whether it's purchased broadband or provided is moot.

Can you imagine what our nation would've looked like in the last 100 years if the federal government would not have mandated electricity deployment? Or standardized the rail system? Or driven the interstate road system?

It's not a comparison of whether we have more territory than South Korea, or whether we have more rural users than Singapore. The point is that those nations have made a conscious and adept decision to provide broadband access to their entire citizenry in an effort to unleash the potential developments which will UNDOUBTEDLY be built upon that platform. The fact that the US hasn't even provided a damn computer for its citizens under the same notion as running water and electricity is a stagering miscalculation of economic development.

I'm sure when the cure for cancer is developed, you'll have to buy that too.