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The $200 Billion Rip-Off: Our broadband future was stolen (2007)

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Re: The $200 Billion Rip-Off: Our broadband future was stolen (2007)

#21

Post by robzyb »

MichaelApproved wrote: post #11
grecy wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Australian that lived in America for a long time, trust me when I say life in Australia with crappy internet is significantly better than life in America with fast internet. You don't want to live there, trust me.

You've got to be more specific when you say "there" or at least mention what you found wrong. The US is a large country with vast differences between the cities. Your experience in one area could be dramatically different from another area in the US.

I understand that a significant majority of the United States' healthcare system is lacklustre.

I understand that a significant majority of the United States' only offer limited annual leave (compared to Australia's 4 weeks).

I understand that a significant majority of the United States' suffers from an extremely high murder rate for a 1st world country.

This is a sample of why I don't want to live in the US, even though they have fast internet.

Re: The $200 Billion Rip-Off: Our broadband future was stolen (2007)

#22

Post by smutticus »

baddox wrote: post #3

Just remember to resist the urge to think of this as corporations stealing money from the government. This is government stealing money from citizens.

There's very little difference between corporations and government these days. So it doesn't really matter what we call the people stealing from the citizenry. Corporations shower politicians with gifts, jobs and campaign contributions, which in most other countries would just be called bribery. The purpose of this from the corporation's viewpoint is to align the interest of the politician to that of the corporation. And once their interests are aligned they operate in concert. So as this process accelerates the border between government and corporation becomes less and less clear.

Re: The $200 Billion Rip-Off: Our broadband future was stolen (2007)

#23

Post by catmanjan »

michaelochurch wrote: post #18
[deleted] wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

There are some neat cities with character. For quality-of-life (relatively speaking) you have Austin and Portland. If you think you can make it rich, there's San Francisco and New York. For historic charm, you have Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore. The upper midwest has a relatively high quality of life, too. Life in the politically sane parts ("blue states") of the US, if you have a job in tech, isn't so bad. You…

I understand what you're saying, but I don't know how you can say that with a straight face.

I don't think living a life that "isn't so bad" is good enough for the caliber of people that visit HN. And the fact that your country has "sane" and presumably "insane" political areas is creepy :(

Re: The $200 Billion Rip-Off: Our broadband future was stolen (2007)

#24

Post by catmanjan »

antidaily wrote: post #12
grecy wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Australian that lived in America for a long time, trust me when I say life in Australia with crappy internet is significantly better than life in America with fast internet. You don't want to live there, trust me.

Oh yeah?! Well your architecture sucks!

Haha, it's all designed to be poor vantage points for mass shootings :P

Re: The $200 Billion Rip-Off: Our broadband future was stolen (2007)

#25

Post by chevas »

hbags wrote: post #13
baddox wrote: post #3

Just remember to resist the urge to think of this as corporations stealing money from the government. This is government stealing money from citizens.

Absolutely. Corporations do nothing but good. They bear no responsibility for their purposeful misuse of the funds. And government does nothing but bad. Swear on your stack of Ayn Rand books that the world would be better if we had more corporations, because they are perfectly ethical and never screw anybody over. Yes, that's right. Never blame the con artists^W^Wcorporations who didn't do what they promised. Instead…

Corporations can be evil, but if 5 corporations competed for consumer dollars, then there would be a lot less screwage happening to consumers. Government laws that disallow competition are the first things that need to change.

Government should be there to protect consumers from price fixing, and that's just about it.

Re: The $200 Billion Rip-Off: Our broadband future was stolen (2007)

#26

Post by ihsw »

hbags wrote: post #13
baddox wrote: post #3

Just remember to resist the urge to think of this as corporations stealing money from the government. This is government stealing money from citizens.

Absolutely. Corporations do nothing but good. They bear no responsibility for their purposeful misuse of the funds. And government does nothing but bad. Swear on your stack of Ayn Rand books that the world would be better if we had more corporations, because they are perfectly ethical and never screw anybody over. Yes, that's right. Never blame the con artists^W^Wcorporations who didn't do what they promised. Instead…

You're taking what he said and swinging it so fully in the opposite direction it makes you look as crazy as him.

Can't we both agree that corporations and governments abuse their power as a matter of fact?

Re: The $200 Billion Rip-Off: Our broadband future was stolen (2007)

#27

Post by michaelochurch »

catmanjan wrote: post #23
michaelochurch wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are some neat cities with character. For quality-of-life (relatively speaking) you have Austin and Portland. If you think you can make it rich, there's San Francisco and New York. For historic charm, you have Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore. The upper midwest has a relatively high quality of life, too. Life in the politically sane parts ("blue states") of the US, if you have a job in tech, isn't so bad. You…

I understand what you're saying, but I don't know how you can say that with a straight face. I don't think living a life that "isn't so bad" is good enough for the caliber of people that visit HN. And the fact that your country has "sane" and presumably "insane" political areas is creepy :(

I'm an American. There are some ways in which I like living here.

Would I come here if I were a Swede? Hell no, except for a $300k+ job in banking or the Valley, and only then knowing that I could get on a plane and leave if I got sick. (You can get 100-200k in the EU; at the 300k level, the jobs start getting rarer in the EU relative to the US, which is why Wall Street gets a surprising amount of French, German, and Italian talent-- if probably not as much as The City.)

If you look at the country in totality and taking into account its full history and what it has overcome, and how rapidly it can change itself when needed, the US is a great country. I don't mean to imply that I think it's better than others (I wouldn't begin to be competent in that comparison) and its history is all kinds of fucked up (genocide of native people, slavery, internment of Japanese-Americans) but there's a lot to be proud of, too.

Would I live here if I were born European? Barring an unusually good job offer that couldn't be found elsewhere, no. And any patriotic pride I might be inclined to have as an American (and I don't have much, because this country is full of assholes, too) I would just as much have if I were born elsewhere. Patriotic pride is a weird thing. I'm from rural PA and it makes me smile every time I meet a successful person with a '717' area code, and I definitely take pride in my rivers and mountains (hills by West Coast standards) but I know there's no rational reason for it; people from central PA aren't superior to people from anywhere else in any way.

Re: The $200 Billion Rip-Off: Our broadband future was stolen (2007)

#28

Post by derleth »

[deleted] wrote: post #14
grecy wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Australian that lived in America for a long time, trust me when I say life in Australia with crappy internet is significantly better than life in America with fast internet. You don't want to live there, trust me.

[deleted]

Right, because a whole country is TexaFlorida and all the inhabitants are Duck Dynasty Honey Boo Boo.

Re: The $200 Billion Rip-Off: Our broadband future was stolen (2007)

#29

Post by caprad »

catmanjan wrote: post #4

I'm Australian, am I to understand that our internet quality and distribution is only just approaching what the American's had in 2007? WTF!? I wish poor internet connection was something I could really get upset about, but I guess the rest of my life is a lot better than most around the world.

Australia only has a few submarine connections to the rest of the world, it will always suffer because of this. On top of that it is incredibly low density, even in the big cities. The same reason we don't have an subway/underground or good public transport is the same reason the internet suffers. On top of that Australia has only produced a small amount of content compared to the rest of the world.

Re: The $200 Billion Rip-Off: Our broadband future was stolen (2007)

#30

Post by ryanSrich »

michaelochurch wrote: post #17
MichaelApproved wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've got to be more specific when you say "there" or at least mention what you found wrong. The US is a large country with vast differences between the cities. Your experience in one area could be dramatically different from another area in the US.

He might have experienced our healthcare. Even if he had insurance, our system is a clusterfuck that makes everyone worse upon contact. Or, he might be older than 30 and therefore not willing to deal with the puny two-week vacation allotment that is still socially acceptable from US employers. Or, he might have children who will have to be educated someday, and see that a system that combines astronomical tuition plu…

> He might have experienced our healthcare. Even if he had insurance, our system is a clusterfuck that makes everyone worse upon contact.

I'm not disagreeing with you I just need help understanding. I get a job. My job offers health insurance coverage, which most do now. I pay a small fee (> Or, he might be older than 30 and therefore not willing to deal with the puny two-week vacation allotment that is still socially acceptable from US employers.

Outside of tech. I've found within the industry most employers have a flexible vacation policy.

> Or, he might have children who will have to be educated someday, and see that a system that combines astronomical tuition plus fickle nonacademic factors in admissions ("extracurricular" criteria designed to give the privileged a huge advantage) is not good for their future.

Can't argue with this one. I wholeheartedly agree.

> Or, he might have lived in the Red States and be gay. Or, pardon the "he", she might be a woman. Or transgender.

Eh. I'd say this is more based on location within a state. Go to Austin Texas and you'll have a better time than many other states that are "blue".

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