Socialism!

What health care and Comcast have in common.

by Isaiah Thompson

Cheap is out, expensive is in! Pay more for less! It's the new motto — for you, for me, for America. And just in time for Christmas! That's what opponents of the public option say, at least. Why else would they oppose it? Oh, right — because it sounds like socialism. So do such GOP favorites as subsidized corn and public highways, if you ask me, but hey, we can't all be purists. Beyond that, the war against the public option has sustained itself on one bizarre argument: It might work. It might make health care cheaper. So, it must be killed before it kills our beloved health care industry.

If the Republicans can't convince you that cheap is bad, try Comcast. In August, Philadelphia submitted three proposals to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for $40 million in stimulus grants to provide Internet service to underserved populations. Enter Comcast vice president David Cohen, who told Bloomberg News in October that Comcast felt that many of the applications submitted by cities nationwide should be disqualified because they were, in fact, served by private providers — like, say, Comcast.

Geographically, they're right. Demographically, not so much, at least here. A study commissioned by the Free Library found that the poorest parts of Philadelphia had the least household access to the Internet. Cohen never mentioned Philly specifically in his comments. But Comcast did comment on the infrastructure part of Philadelphia's application. What it said, the NTIA won't reveal (and how about a big hand for transparent government!). I'll bet it wasn't "free Internet for all!"

Comcast seems worried that if cities actually implemented cheap, publicly managed Internet access, it would hurt their bottom line. So last week, they and other cable providers came up with their own solution. It still uses public money — only they've proposed that we pay school districts to pay them to provide poor kids access to the Internet! And from the very same fund that they oppose cities tapping into for the same purpose. That's capitalism!

Comcast has every reason to not want to be undercut by cheap, public Internet access, just as the insurance companies have every reason to fight cheap, public insurance, just as the barbarian hordes had every reason to protest the Great Wall of China. But, since we're the consumers, you could ask why we should give a damn about these companies' profit margins. Sure, you could ask that — socialist.