Battle of the Bandwidths

On the cusp of another election, all-consumed by the jobs crisis, not too many influential folks are talking about bandwidth as a panacea. Thomas Friedman is. In his New York Times column, he argues that America is falling behind in localized web technologies that, when paired with an educated populace and dynamic business community, can transform certain cities into "job factories". Access to abundant bandwidth may be this century's primary strategic input, like coal or transportation in the past. [NY Times]