Examples/Discussion of government spending to prosperity

[Prosperity]

WW2 spending can't be isolated from Europe transferring most of its wealth to us on account of us having the only functioning industrial economy left on the planet.

The world got poorer, we got richer by sponging up what wealth was left

[alexey]

But the reason why that's true is because the US has already existing internet access. Meaning that there isn't as much demand for broadband.

We saw the same thing with cell phones. They were slow to penetrate the US market, because they were competing with a reliable, cheap, wired telephone network which already had universal coverage and had already been paid for.

Investment decisions made by a particular corporation do not always align with strategic investments that are needed to ensure long term economic growth and competitiveness of the whole nation.

In other words, there is a reason why there are multiple huge US internet corporations and not too many US cell phone manufacturers.

In short, your example doesn't say "the market is doing a poor job of covering the US". It says "the US has less broadband that other places, because the US doesn't need it."

More like "because for various reasons few major corporations that are capable of investing into into expansion of broadband into rural areas have decided against doing that at this point".

[Burgold]

But the reason why that's true is because the US has already existing internet access. Meaning that there isn't as much demand for broadband.

We saw the same thing with cell phones. They were slow to penetrate the US market, because they were competing with a reliable, cheap, wired telephone network which already had universal coverage and had already been paid for.

In short, your example doesn't say "the market is doing a poor job of covering the US". It says "the US has less broadband that other places, because the US doesn't need it."

This is 100% correct.

What I've heard is that it also has to do with using poorer infrastructure. Sure, like Alexey says some companies don't think there's enough bang for the buck for building out into the sticks and so there are regions that aren't covered. The other side of the same coin is that like with the refineries, like with the DC Metro system... a lot of companies are choosing to go with existing materials and infrastructure and so the service we receive is slower because it's working on cables and using other mechanisms that are not as technologically up to date.

We've all heard how we could refine oil much more cleanly, efficiently, and get more bang out of the buck, but almost no company is willing to put out the upfront money for upgrading or building a new refinery and so we're stuck using outdated, obsolete refineries.