Obama Says Internet Key to Economic Recovery

Define the scope of this to internet, economy and politics.
This topic has came up before in campaining.

The people who need economic help the most, do not have a PC.  The older generation with medical problems and those with a lack of retirement income never had a PC in the past.  Can low income families or the homeless get or have access to one???

The percent of population with a PC/internet in increasing, but what is it today???

I am not sure of what the actual percentages are but the number of U.S. businesses & homes (not to mention hand held devices) with internet access is already fairly high.

So I do not believe that more internet access is going to save the U.S. economy, for instance just look at Japan, the Japanese have an even higher number of businesses & homes with high speed internet access & high tech hand held internet devices, and their over all economy has been stagnant since the late 1980's even though their tech & automobile manufacturers have been thriving over the last 20 years.

Personally I think the U.S. needs to completely revamp its antiquidated tax system, just that one thing alone would probably bring back alot of the companies that have moved off-shore, overseas or across the border.

Improvement is a key word in the Obama for “Change” objective.

There may be places where the internet can make things better.

Maybe the employment office could use more workstations for people to find jobs.
Perhaps groups like the food pantry could use a network to improve inventory tracking and distribution.  Maybe schools need this for better teaching.  Is there a computer center at Flagship to help a start up business with development and records???

Also, there is more to this then hardware and software.  The owner of it needs to know how to manage it.  Need some background on administration stuff like data backup, anti virus, software updates etc.  Most new PC owners don’t think about being a system administer.  So I would not give someone a PC unless they have a need for it and some idea of maintenance.

An existing system, Madison County government is bad.  Most of the main web page links to departments do NOT work.  But this may be more about their attitude then a defective computer.  They do NOT want any oversight of them.  What happens behind closed doors stays a secret.  The concept of not wanting a flow of info with the internet has exposed a county government that is serving interests other then the public.

K9Mike,

Sorry but I just dont see how giving every man, woman & child free broadband internet access is going to do anything except further drain our national treasury in order to stimulate the number of facebook, youtube & porn pages viewed.

Found this 12/15/2008 Computerworld story

 “Pledging to "renew our information superhighway,"… will likely include increased spending on broadband access and other IT initiatives.

…..The stimulus plan,…could lead to wider availability of broadband services, particularly in rural areas. …may fund new computers for schools and technologies that can help reduce medical costs.

Maybe tech investments will help stimulate the economy. While many traditional economists focus on projects such as building roads and bridges, "we need to expand our vision" to include IT,
Broadband expansion is likely to be a priority for Obama's administration. U.S. ranks 15th out of 30 industrialized countries on broadband adoption. This is  “unacceptable."

…. only about two-thirds of Americans have a computer at home...
Obama  wants to ensure that every hospital and doctor in the U.S. "is using cutting-edge technology and electronic medical records, so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes and help save billions of dollars each year."  And helps to saves lives.

My doctor already has cutting edge tech when it comes to computers. It is nice to visit and he sets up test and such from the room your in at the time. Plus he has access to all my hospital records on his computer in the room.

Is your Doc with Community?  My doc can do the same thing in his office and it makes things a lot easier and less paperwork.

I don't think it will help the economy at all. In fact, they are saying that we will lose many retail type stores because of the recession, such as video rental stores and bookstores. I for one hope that doesn't happen. I want to see the books first that I want to buy. I don't want to be limited to only buying them on the internet. Bookstores are a part of many people's social lives. They go there to buy, read and have a cappucino. The internet is ruining alot of businesses and causing the loss of many jobs.

Garden Girl,

First let me welcome you to the AFP forums!

I agree that B&M (brick and mortar) stores have been forced to adapt to the internet age and I agree with you that some of them have suffered as a result, but is it also not true that others have prospered from it?

Listen I am personally not in favor of politicians dipping into the national treasury in order to buy votes with promises of "free" stuff, even if they have secondary reasons for doing so, such as stimulating the economy.

But I do have to admit that the internet has been a tremendous boon for the businesses & retailers who exploited that new resource properly, I just think that it's reached the point of saturation with regards to those who already have it vs those who do not.

Those who do not have internet access in this day & age either do not want it or cannot afford it, neither of those two groups would help stimulate the economy if the government dipped into the national treasury and provided them with "free" internet access.

At least that is my take on this proposal.

I have a new doc that does the same.  When I go see him the conversation is like: 

Doc:  Hello, What's the problem?
Me:  I need a Z-pac
Doc:  Is that it?
Me:  Yes.

CVS removed me from the system, because I had not been there for 2 years and that is where I have always goen to get my Z-pac.

Modern technology?  Gotta love it.