During the recent pandemic, California, a progressive state, received a ton of federal money to use in improving our internet infrastructure. Plans were written to help our students who were learning online.
According to a reporter, Shomik Mukherjee, over time the plans somehow changed. In the beginning the emphasis was on providing good Internet for children living in places like the poorer parts of Oakland and Los Angeles. Students there are still having a hard time staying online. They are seriously handicapped by bad connections.
The private internet companies make good profits in rich neighborhoods, so they are already well served.
The alternative to a useful and profitable internet company is a useful government program that provides good internet connections for poor people. But something in our culture tilts the government playing field, so that the good things in life slide away from the poor kids and toward the rich, even in Sacramento.
According to Mukherjee, newer plans shift the state emphasis from fixing poor neighborhoods to enhancing wealthy neighborhoods that already have good connections. How did that happen?
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