Remember when MAGATs @Salvy @AroundTheWorld were claiming biden interview questions were scripted and he already had the questions? Today we find out it's actually trump who's pre screening all of his interviews. @Os Trigonum @Space Ghost any word from you losers? You can *never* give the benefit of the doubt to right wingers @rocketsjudoka . All they do is lie non stop
gift link no paywall Trump Unbreaks the Internet Deregulation in broadband deployment is saving billions of dollars for taxpayers. https://www.wsj.com/opinion/trump-a...8?st=CaeuHe&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink excerpt: Congress appropriated $42 billion in the 2021 infrastructure bill for states to expand broadband to “unserved” and rural communities. The spending was unnecessary since satellite services like SpaceX’s Starlink and 5G fixed wireless services were rapidly closing the so-called digital divide. Upward of 99% of households already had high-speed internet. But Democrats wanted the money, and the Biden team then used it in an attempt to micromanage broadband nationwide. States receiving funds had to consult with unions, native American tribes and “local community organizations” on their plans to expand broadband. This gave liberal special interests a veto and let them extort developers. States also had to submit plans for Commerce Department review, explaining how they would make broadband “affordable” for middle-class consumers. Biden-era guidance suggested that states hand out subsidies to consumers or use “their regulatory authority to promote structural competition”—i.e., industrial policy. Providers applying for funds were also advised to offer “low-cost” plans and provide “nondiscriminatory access to and use” of their networks on a “wholesale basis to other providers . . . at just and reasonable wholesale.” This was a back-door way to impose utility-style rate regulation on internet providers. The Biden crowd also stipulated that broadband providers give hiring preferences to “underrepresented” groups, including “aging individuals,” prisoners, racial, religious and ethnic minorities, “Indigenous and Native American persons,” “LGBTQI+ persons,” and “persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.” Fiber projects were also given heavy preference over satellite and fixed wireless services, even though the latter could be installed faster and at a fraction of the cost. These requirements delayed projects, raised costs, and added uncertainty across the industry. more at the link
I would have preferred it if they imposed utility-style regulation because backhaul looks to me like a natural monopoly and an essential service. Biden's half-measure is basically the same as what the rest of the world does -- try to elicit universal access while also allowing capital to get the returns it wants. I think we have seen enough to know you can't have both. If you let the market solve for the most efficient economic outcome, that outcome is that poor people can't afford service. If Trump is deregulating further from what is already not a price-regulated industry, we will definitely never achieve universal access.
