The Stimulus: Washington Betting on Broadband

There is a bet made this week, and the bet is the stimulus: the $787 billion package that President Obama signed on Tuesday. The bet is the largest in American history, and the history is the crisis: the worst recession since the Depression. The bet is the broadband: the $7.2 billion for the rural and underserved, the argument that connectivity is infrastructure. The stimulus is the February 2009 story, and the story is the lesson: the Washington that bet on broadband, the broadband that will be built, the digital economy that will be watched.

The Stimulus is the subject of this article: what Washington signed on Tuesday, what the package contains, why broadband sits at the center, what the bet means.

1. The Signing on Tuesday

The signing is the news, and the news is the Tuesday: the February 17 ceremony, the President Obama who put pen to paper, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that became law. The signing is the moment: the largest stimulus package in United States history, the $787 billion that Congress passed, the recession that demanded the response. The signing is the promise: the jobs that would be saved, the economy that would be restarted, the recovery the country was told to expect. The signing was the beginning, and the beginning was the bet: the government that committed, the markets that watched.

The signing is also the week: the days since Tuesday, the coverage in the papers, the checks that have not left the Treasury, the programs that have not hired. The signing is the scale: the hundreds of billions for tax cuts, for state relief, for infrastructure, for the technology of the future. The signing is the speed: the package that moved from promise to pen in weeks, the urgency of a crisis that would not wait. The signing on Tuesday was the act, and the act was the answer: the federal government that finally moved, the recession that met its match.

2. The Package

The package is the money, and the money is the size: the roughly $787 billion, the largest stimulus in American history, the number that defines the era. The package is the design: the tax incentives, the aid for the states, the spending on infrastructure, the investments that the crisis made necessary. The package is the debate: the Congress that argued, the economists who disagreed, the voters who wondered whether the money would work, the doubt that never left the room. The package is the moment: the Congress that acted, the President who signed, the country that waited for the money to move.

The package is also the direction: the money that flows to roads and bridges, to the power grid and the networks, to the science that will outlast the recession. The package is the reading: the government that chose the shovel and the fiber, the recovery that would be built twice, once in concrete and once in code. The package is the context: the worst recession since the Depression, the unemployment that kept climbing, the faith that spending could turn the tide. The package was the answer, and the answer was the bet: the federal government that put its full weight behind the recovery.

3. The Broadband

The broadband is the bet, and the bet is the wires: the roughly $7.2 billion for deployment, the rural areas and the underserved, the missing networks and the slow networks. The broadband is the goal: to connect the unconnected, to bring the high speed line to the farm and the small town, to close the gap the market left open. The broadband is the argument: that the connection is as essential as the road, as the bridge, as the rail line, that no modern economy can run without it. The broadband is the center, and the center is the story this week.

The broadband is also the question: who will build the networks, who will run them, who will pay, who will be left out when the grants are done. The broadband is the machinery: the agencies that will run the programs, the applications that will come, the projects that will be chosen, the months of work ahead. The broadband is the faith: the belief that the investment will pay, that the rural school will change, that the digital divide can be crossed with federal money. The broadband was the center, and the center was the point: the stimulus that bet on the network.

4. The Infrastructure Argument

The argument is the framing, and the framing is the roads: the broadband that is infrastructure like the bridges, like the highways, like the railroads that built the country. The argument is the phrase: broadband is the new railroad, the sentence that the industry repeated, the claim that carried the day. The argument is the history: the railroads that the government helped build, the interstates that Congress funded, the public money that created private opportunity, the lesson the digital age would repeat. The argument is the parallel, and the parallel is the promise: the wires that will carry the next century as the rails did.

The argument is also the logic: the road that carries the goods, the wire that carries the data, the economy that needs both, the century that runs on connections. The argument is the comparison: the farm that the railroad reached, the school that the fiber reaches, the prosperity that follows the line. The argument is the acceptance: the Congress that put the money in the bill, the President who signed it, the industry that celebrated, the skeptics who will watch the results. The infrastructure argument was the bridge, and the bridge was the bill: the broadband that crossed from idea to law this week.

5. The Technology Provisions

The provisions are the portfolio, and the portfolio is the future: the $19 billion for health information technology, the electronic health records that will change the doctor's office. The provisions are the science: the $17 billion and more for research, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the laboratories that the crisis year will fund. The provisions are the grid: the smart grid investments of roughly $11 billion, the power lines that talk, the electricity that flows more wisely. The provisions are the breadth, and the breadth is the point: the package that touched every corner of the technology economy.

The provisions are also the energy: the tax incentives for renewable power, the wind and the sun that the package favored, the green economy that the administration promised. The provisions are the signal: the government that invested across the technology map, that treated the digital and the scientific as infrastructure, that spread its money beyond the shovel. The provisions are the sum: the billions that will flow to the records, to the research, to the grid, to the networks, the largest federal bet on technology in a generation. The provisions were the breadth, and the breadth was the statement: the recovery that would transform.

6. The Agencies

The agencies are the machinery, and the machinery is the work: the National Telecommunications and Information Administration that will run the broadband grants, the Department of Agriculture for the rural counties. The agencies are the method: the grant programs that will take applications, the projects that will be judged, the money that will move with rules attached. The agencies are the discipline: the federal government that will decide, the accountability that the taxpayers expect, the process that the crisis will test. The agencies are the front line, and the front line is the field: the counties and the towns where the wires will go.

The agencies are also the plan: the Federal Communications Commission that was tasked this week with a National Broadband Plan, the document that will map the future. The agencies are the coordination: the FCC that will plan, the NTIA that will fund, the USDA that will reach, the pieces that must fit together. The agencies are the promise: the government that will not just spend but think, that will not just cut checks but design, that will treat the network as a national project. The agencies were the structure, and the structure was the confidence: the machinery that the broadband bet will run on.

7. The Crisis

The crisis is the context, and the context is the recession: the worst since the Depression, the collapse that began in housing and spread to everything. The crisis is the numbers: the jobs that disappeared by the hundreds of thousands, the banks that failed, the credit that froze, the confidence that drained from the country. The crisis is the pressure: the President who inherited the fall, the Congress that had to act, the voters who demanded a response, the clock that would not stop. The crisis is the reason, and the reason is the bill: the emergency that made the $787 billion necessary.

The crisis is also the opportunity: the downturn that made the big spending possible, the moment that let the government build for the future, the wreckage that forced the rebuild. The crisis is the argument: the recession that justified the package, the urgency that silenced the caution, the $787 billion that would have been unthinkable in calm times. The crisis is the technology reading: the industry that saw the stimulus as its chance, the broadband that answered the question of what to build. The crisis was the mother, and the mother was the bill: the emergency that gave birth to the bet.

8. The Lesson

The lesson is the shift, and the shift is the network: the broadband that was once a luxury, that became a utility, that is now federal policy. The lesson is the recognition: the government that called the connection infrastructure, that put it beside the roads and bridges, that gave the digital economy a place in the recovery. The lesson is the sentence: the digital economy that Washington chose, the largest bet the government has made, the bet that will be measured in the years to come. The lesson is the placement, and the placement is the point: the wires beside the highways in the national budget.

The lesson is also the test: the $7.2 billion that must build something, the health records that must appear, the grid that must modernize, the science that must pay. The lesson is the February 2009 story, and the story is the lesson: the signing on Tuesday, the package, the broadband, the government that bet on the digital economy. The lesson is the beginning, and the beginning is the year: the grants to be awarded, the networks to be built, the bet watched until it pays or fails. The stimulus is the bet, and the bet is the story: the broadband that Washington chose, the recovery built on it.

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