December 6th, 2008
Obama: "It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption"
The 21st Century Tech President said Saturday morning that the U.S. will launch new investments in its infrastructure - including a boost of broadband accessibility - as part of a larger strategy to revitalize the economy and create jobs. (Techmeme) 
Specifically, President-elect Barack Obama said broadband connections need to be made widely available to school children and hospitals. Hospitals should be able to connect to each other via the Internet. He said:
It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption. Here, in the country that invented the Internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they’ll get that chance when I’m president - because that’s how we’ll strengthen America’s competitiveness in the world.
Bravo! It was just days ago that a coalition of technology and telecom companies, along with public interest and other groups, called on Washington to establish a National Broadband Strategy for 2009. It was also just days ago that the government declared that the U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007. According to a report by Agence France-Presse, 533,000 jobs in the U.S. were lost in November, sending the jobless rate to 6.7 percent, the highest since October 1993. The report notes that 2.7 million people have become jobless since the recession began.
“We will create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s,” Obama said in his weekly radio and YouTube address. He said the plan, which includes making public buildings more energy-efficient and building new roads and bridges, will “save or create” 2.5 million jobs.
Sam Diaz is a senior editor at ZDNet. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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