Economically we are certainly living in interesting times. One of the reactions to the current financial crisis has been a resurgence in Keynesian ideas of government intervention in markets as a way to avoid the worst effects of recession. There is much talk of governments investing in civil engineering projects such as roads, rail and bridge building. Invest in such infrastructure, the argument goes, and you prime the pump of the economy now and improve your competitiveness in the future.
Well, if we’ve been willing to build transport infrastructure like this before then shouldn’t we be thinking about using government money to build out a nationwide fibre optic network?
