Payday Loans: More Available Than Broadband in U.S.?

Payday loans easier than getting the internet?

Map of Saratoga, California by wikipedia, smack-dab in Silicon Valley where you can't get broadband internet!

Is it easier to get payday loans in America than it is to find broadband Internet? If cases like those of Robert Berger are any indication, bank on payday loans.

Isn’t America the most technically advanced nation on Earth?

Robert Berger, a blogger who lives in the tech-tonic Silicon Valley of central California, is flabbergasted. He writes in his blog “Cognizant Transmutation: Composting the Internet for over Two Decades” at http://blog.ibd.com/how-the-world-works/national-shame-swaths-of-non-rural-us-without-broadband-time-for-re-divestiture/comment-page-1/ that his neighborhood in Saratoga, California has no access to viable consumer broadband Internet services. This in one of the hotbeds of America’s tech community!

He admits that an intermittently reliable wireless service (that offers less than a 1Mbps connection speed for more than $100/month – need a no fax payday loan for that?) is available. That certainly isn’t affordable, and the speed is modest. Thus, it is not viable, as speeds in numerous other countries are superior – not just to Saratoga, but the entire nation. Observe the chart of Speedtest.net at http://blog.ibd.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/speedtestnet-global-statistics.jpg – America doesn’t even crack the top 10.

Russia, Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania outstrip the fabled Silicon Valley and the rest of the United States of America. This is unacceptable. When it comes to broadband speed and availability, America is at best a Third World country.

Aren’t U.S. telecommunications giants connecting the country?

AT&T and Comcast are the both present in Berger’s region, yet they do not plan to cover his neighborhood. Both are franchised giants who have squeezed out all possible competition for the type of service they provide. What incentive do they have to improve their services to Saratoga or anywhere else if they’re the only game in town?

Berger’s office is in Mt. View, which is also in the heart of Silicon Valley, has similar “high speed” service available at feasible pricing. Apparently faster service is available, but for “thousands of dollars per month.”

How do they do it everywhere else?

Berger suggests that if the physical properties of these telecoms (rights of way, conduit, dark fiber, utility poles and physical meet points) were government or community owned and operated, the common good of fast, available broadband would be the result. He cites the Singapore National Broadband Network as an example of broadband done right. Sweden, the Netherlands, Canada and Vermont (American, but becoming increasingly independent) are other great examples of how Saratoga and the rest of the United States could be connecting its people. It shouldn’t be easier to find faxless payday loans in this great nation.

Break those monopolies!

Monopolies kill innovation, stifle freedom and stick the American people with the bill. We must make our voices heard if we want America to remain a technological leader. Tell your Congressmen, city leaders, state legislators and Governor you want your freedom to communicate back.

In response to Berger’s outrage, a reader named Dave Clark comments memorably:

Bob – where is your sense of patriotism? The U.S. is no longer number one in anything except for deficit budgets – why complicate matters?

We must complicate matters and fight for our right to free speech, advancing American society. For as long as payday loans – as useful as they are – remain easier to find than broadband Internet, America must be vigilant to fight the decay of monopolization.