USA: stimulus package

UK: bail-out

The telecoms industry got $200 Billion in tax credit in the mid-nineties in exchange for a promise to bring fiber networks to everyone in the US, and promptly reneged on that promise. Why would anyone think they will act any differently this time? A much better step would be to clean up the mismanagement, fraud and corruption around the universal service fund and other telecoms boondoggles that nickel and dime our phone bills.

Hey it's only tax payer money the politicians are throwing around so there's no problem spending Trillions of dollars on pork and welfare projects. The dumbass tax payers will pick up the tab. They always do.

Take people off the dole and get them producing and laying optic fibre.

We could redesign the network as well whilst we are at it, make it more fault tolerant, less centralised and more autonomous.