USA Last As Usual.
We were last to get high def. TV. We will be last to get universal health care, even if our disgraceful Supreme Court doesn't declare the HCR act unconstitutional. And, as David Lazarus reports in today's LA Times, our ISPs now offer the slowest rates at the highest prices.
"Internet service customers paying for inefficiency"
"The Federal Communications Commission issued a report last year showing that the U.S. ranks 12th for broadband service such as cable and DSL connections, outpaced by South Korea, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, Britain, Canada and Germany.
"Meanwhile, a 2010 report by the Technology Policy Institute found that while broadband prices had dropped overseas as much as 40% in recent years, prices in the United States were barely budging. ...
"So why are we such slowpokes? A 2010 report by Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society came up with a ready answer: government regulation, or a lack thereof.
"Public officials in Europe and Asia were quick to realize the economic and social opportunities that broadband afforded. So they adopted policies designed to ensure highly competitive markets that would foster innovation and lower prices."
Read more:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20120420,0,1556559.column
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And I keep being told the Government never got involved in anything that didn't make matters worse. I was even told that on a local sports radio show. A message so important that it's broadcast like a mantra across all communications venues must be TRUE.
There's an invisible hand helping you at all times. This is in the Gospel according to Adam Smith. 
He is completely correct, and fair as well, in today's column.
It's really criminal the way the internet has been handled by the folks running things.
Thanks for the thread, Lionel Mandrake!
You'd think the country that invented the internet could do better than 12th place. 