No kidding?! A first-time computer user gets a 40gb connection, Korea enjoys 45mb service (South Korea of course, DPRK does have its own national intranet, but the speed… ?), and meanwhile PeoplePC still advertises dial-up in the US where “high-speed” is considered 3mb-8mb.
But wait, President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology doesn’t think America’s backbone is a source of trouble. The three problems are: visas, the lack of grand visions, and the third are pervasive sensor networks (“tiny, self-powered motes that spread through the environment, collecting data on pollution, or climate, or population movements and relay it back to users). Oh, and fourth is a more reliable Internet.
Actually increasing speed requires infrastructure investment, something the Administration clearly thinks is best left up to the private sector (update here).
Krugman has an oped in the NYTimes on the same subject:http://select.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/opinion/23krugman.html