BUILD IT NOW

The Internet can solve today's economic crisis — not through some harebrained dotcom scheme, but through universal entrée to what is, arguably, the greatest storehouse of information ever assembled. There is no technological reason why every American shouldn't have always-on broadband access provided — at a reasonable price — by a telephone, cable or wireless provider. The carriers, though, seem to prefer cherry-picking elite customers with deep pockets and blaming technological limitations on their tendency to ignore the rest. The government, as it did with the national highway system to which the Internet is so often compared, should show some gumption. Either via the carrot of economic incentives or the stick of economic penalties, it should force the carriers to build the clichéd information superhighway. The construction alone would juice the economy, but this isn't the Works Progress Administration — this is about giving everyone quick, reliable access to a wealth of online information. Admittedly, the Internet is the Fort Knox of pornography, but that seems a small, filtered price to pay for access to the knowledge cornucopia that would sit at everyone's fingertips. Undeniably, interstate highways ravaged cities, fomented ugly suburban sprawl and decimated public transportation. But they also gave Americans the chance to seek better jobs and better lives in new destinations, thus enhancing the economy. An information superhighway can do the same. It can pave the way to knowledge that will spark economic growth. It must be universal and it must be broadband.