Dr. Krugman comments on the redefinition of high speed internet penetration. It’s now considered complete in a zipcode if one person gets over 200 kb/s.

So Bush is declaring “Mission Accomplished” on broadband, which is, once again, a lie.

However, I disagree with Krugman on the problem.

It’s not, “the failure of US policy to create effective competition”, it is a lack of regulation.

The incumbent providers are not spending money on upgrading the infrastructure because it is not to their business advantage to upgrade the infrastructure.

It is more profitable, and requires less capital, to put up barriers to other entrants into the field.

Europe and Japan with their state owned telecommunications monopolies, and their highly regulated wireless infrastructure are kicking our butt, because the market does not work in this area.