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Why was it not brought up, the new farm bill had provisions to bring high speed INTERNET to the rural areas
of the country, just as the rural electrification that was done in the 1930s...
The deep pocket opposition to ever making internet access a regulated public utility like electricity.
Which should have happened twenty years ago.
Why was it not brought up, the new farm bill had provisions to bring high speed INTERNET to the rural areas of the country, just as the rural electrification that was done in the 1930s to bring electricity to rural areas. It is coming to rural areas starting soon.....................
Probably won't happen. Remember Obama made the same promise and nothing happened.
Talk is cheap and there has been a lot of talk over the years. However," we have the best government money can buy".
Back on the turn of the century I lived in a rural county (population 75,000) that is mostly government owned land.
It is a Republican county and at the turn of the century the county asked the telecommunication companies to develop fiber internet throughout the county. They said no. The county said fine, we will do it ourselves.
NO STATE or FEDERAL monies were involved. It was ALL funded from county sources. The liberal, left-wing Governor of Washington state and the Democrats said NO. Tried to stop the entire project.
It turned out that the Democrats in Washington state were well "funded" by the telecommunication companies. The corporations wanted a return on all that money they contributed to the Democrats so they asked them to kill the project.
They almost did it, and did get the law changed so that municipal owned broadband systems are no longer viable in Washington state.
However, we did get our fiber system throughout the county. For 75,000 residents the cost was 125 MILLION dollars of ONLY COUNTY FUNDS and still counting. Even 20 years later no state or Federal dollars were used to build the system. So it isn't cheap.
I think the rural electrification act was great. We really do need to follow it with a broadband initiative, but I doubt it is going to happen as long as "we have the best government money can buy".
Anyway, I get my electricity, water, sewer, internet, cable TV, and phone from the county.
Socialism does work as long as it is run by a bunch of Republicans.
"...its share of the population is shrinking: the United States has grown by 75 million people since 1990, but this has mostly occurred in cities and suburbs. Rural areas have lost some 3 million people."
where i live, cities have annexed previously classified rural land.
so...in 28 years, the rural population is shrinking since the cities took it.
the people might still be there...but they are living in the city now.
I was just reading an article about the Yellow Vests in France, and any number of small towns in France are becoming ghost towns, same is happening in Japan and Spain. Partly due to a larger aging population as well as the lowering of the fertility rate. Population shrinks and the Doctors are among the first to leave, which has you driving many more miles just to see a Doctor. I foresee lots of ghost towns in the U.S. in the years ahead.
In 60+ yrs and 15+ rural homesites, I have never seen streetlights, / urban type restrictions / amenities / availability of services or greater presence of law enforcement. ...
Nor would we tolerate street light 'pollution'. We like viewing the STARS!
One obnoxious light 5 miles away can really kill that experience.
Our rural locale has essentially no services; even the mail is dodgy. But we do have to occasional state-trooper hiding on patches of public land, such as an easement for a cell-tower. And speaking of towers - they're quite an obnoxious source of light pollution. Am I complaining? No. I like good cell-coverage. Internet access? Pretty much the only option is to use one's cell-phone as a portable wifi hot-spot. No cable, fiber, etc. available here - or prospects of it ever coming.
Sure, some rural areas are poor, based on govt tables and statistics. But certainly the percentage is small, if you include all rural counties. Many are quite prosporous, like the counties in the oil fields of Texas, NM, ND, and others. Many rural counties are very popular tourist destination. The writers at the NYT should visit rural America more, instead of just sitting at their desks in Manhatten, writing about it from govt reports.
"Certainly the percentage is small". Could you cite a source for that? There are plenty of sources showing, on average, rural areas are continuing to decline.
Immigration from Mexico is not helping where I live. The big farm outfits hire 100 to 200 people a year from Mexico (some illegal). They spend 6 months here and 6 months elsewhere. There HAS to be a way that the idled men around here can do those jobs. Maybe pay $12 an hour (the Mexicans get $10-11). Give the companies a little tax break for hiring locals. (Hiring locals will reduce the welfare money they now get). Maybe a little training program for the tractor drivers and foremen.
100-200 workers is quite a few people in a rural area like here. It’s hard work (I have done it). It’s easy and convenient to bring in the Mexicans. But we need to find a way to employ locals.
Go on a road trip to get them outside of there bubble and experience what the world is like. They will decide for themselves if the town they live in isn't so bad after all.
I think an associates degree in a college should be part of our education to get kids out of their bubble and help decide what they want to do.
Make Your Bed is a good book on how to start the day strong.
My small town is divided with itself. Half the town is trying to figure out ways to attract more business and people. The other half is xenophobic and wants nothing to change. So the town just keeps getting smaller every year, property values continue to fall, small farmers get bought out by the big farmers, the young, smart kids who could make the area vibrant, leave to go to college...and don’t return because there is no need for a college education. And the cycle continues. Rural America in my part of the Midwest is dying.
My small town is divided with itself. Half the town is trying to figure out ways to attract more business and people. The other half is xenophobic and wants nothing to change. So the town just keeps getting smaller every year, property values continue to fall, small farmers get bought out by the big farmers, the young, smart kids who could make the area vibrant, leave to go to college...and don’t return because there is no need for a college education. And the cycle continues. Rural America in my part of the Midwest is dying.
I see no reason to focus this on the MidWest.
I live on the East Coast, in a rural region [less than 10 people per square-mile].
For many years, the young adults leave seeking their fortunes, people who immigrate here are retirees seeking the quite and low Cost-Of-Living.
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