the Digital Town Hall

I was lucky enough to retire early on an old-fashioned, defined-benefit pension from the Federal Government last August, just when the meltdown started. I have had a little time to get more facile with the internet and the computer generally, and have tried looking for part-time work through this means. I cannot imagine anyone trying to find a job this way without high speed access of some kind. I had heard that the public Library had computers for those without one at home, and that is true, save that hundreds of children and adults are now crowdiing the place. If everyone has a TV, everyone could have internet access. If the reality of the job market is that you won't get hired without an online resume, everyone should have help in creating one. I had to submit one for a Janitor's job at the hospital, and never heard back. The State employment security people are actually trying hard to deal with the massive influx of workers of my cohort trying to wrap their heads around the protocols and the simple experience of web navigation. This is a good example of a social divide, and I think it is all about class and who gets to survive. Being without high speed internet access is like being without reliable transportation: the public varieties of both are insufficient.
For too long, the benefits of new technology have been allocated according to the ability to pay. Life saving drugs and therapies are denied to certain groups based on this criterion. The technologies that could provide uplift for the least in our society should be available to all without profiting the few, simply because it is a good idea. When rabid free-market capitalists insist that profit is the motive that drives innovation, I must disagree: we are a compassionate species. That is a good evolutionary strategy. Let's start with this cheap and readily available technology, and give freedom of information to all.