We just don't seem to understand…

I really, really, really don’t understand how we can endlessly dance around a subject and never quite understand it.  We spend thousands and thousands of dollars to figure out that someone who is texting while driving cannot pay adequate attention to the road.

You don’t believe in global warming?  Call it whatever you want.  But, it is hard to argue against the opening of trade routes over the Arctic Circle and the disappearance of ice over Greenland.  There have been thousands of studies and countless books on the subject and yet people don’t understand it.

The government of the Maldives held an underwater session in scuba gear to illustrate that their island nation will soon be under water if something isn’t done soon to prevent the world’s ice from melting.  Personally, I think we are way past being able to help them.  But, still, 60% percent of the world’s population lives within 60 miles/97 kilometers of a shoreline.  What are we doing?  Hmm, for one we are asking the U.S. automakers to raise the average miles/gallon to 35 mpg by 2015, or some such lame idea while we discuss “cap and trade.” Three hundred eighty-six thousand people are about to be “displaced” and we cannot seem to comprehend the problem here.

The United States spends twice as much on healthcare as any other developed nation in the world and yet we don’t live as long, and more of our children die earlier than any of those countries spending half as much.

Our for-profit healthcare system is employer based.  The value of an employee to his or her company is decided by how much that employee’s healthcare costs.  Every other developed nation in the world has some form of the government option for providing healthcare yet Americans are so provincial that they let themselves be led around by their noses as the AMA, Big Pharma, and the Health Insurance industries lie to protect their gigantic profits.  Why don’t people see the problem here?

The N Y Times danced around the question of why people in the U S have access to broadband but don’t use it.  They devoted a half a page to this absurd question.  “Broadband Now! So Why Don’t Some Use It? By RANDALL STROSS” and still didn’t come to a conclusion.  They said a third of those who have access to a broadband connection don’t have one. Hence, we can immediately dispense with the vast number of people in this country that don’t have access and simply focus on those who do but don’t use it.

First off, I suspect there is a large population that cannot afford it.  Things like food, medicine, rent, and other basic necessities take precedence over broadband connectivity.  I am guessing Luddites make up a portion of that population.  They say that only 30% of people over the age of 65 have a broadband connection.  I understand that.

Earlier this month I flew over 800 miles to spend a week with a 70 year old friend in order to get him hooked up to the internet.  His reticence could be explained by the fact that his earlier experience had been as a high level executive with a Windows based computer.  He was afraid to get a home computer because at home he had no access to the much-needed personal tech support he had at work.

There was one other obstacle to overcome that the reporter seemed to gloss over.  My friend needed a place to put the computer, which required him to purchase a new desk and chair.  He needed to contact his cable TV provider to establish broadband connection, and when I arrived, we had to drive for 45 minutes to reach the nearest Apple store.  Here, my friend plopped down $2,300 for a computer, printer, some necessary software, hardware and supplies.  We could have gotten him a cheaper PC, but he is using all of his resources to master the MAC plug and play.  To put him through the endless maze of problems and tech support that a new Microsoft customer must endure would have been a gargantuan if not an impossible task.  So, how many people over the age of 65 could afford or endure this on their own?

Basically, I see the problem with broadband acceptance as being very similar to the healthcare problem in this country.  First, broadband is mostly available here from for profit providers like AT&T, Verizon, or Comcast.  They make a very good profit by ripping off their customers.  The best broadband connection I ever had was from the Alameda Bureau of Electricity, a “public” Utility District for the city of Alameda, California.  It was both affordable and fast.  It is not available here in Atlanta.  I have Comcast, which is expensive and slow.  Most people here do not know what good service is.  Most people in this country do not know what good healthcare is.  The way the market is currently set up, people who are not in it are either too poor or afraid or both.  To pull them into the market will require education, infrastructure, and a restructuring of the current way we do things to make it more affordable.

These things should not be hard to figure out.  We shouldn’t need expensive studies.  And, if necessary, we just need to look around and see what really, really works in other places.