Private Sector: Broadband stimulus is job stimulus, too

Stanford University economist Paul Romer's observation that "a crisis is a terrible thing to waste" could be a rallying cry for past and present efforts to revive the economy and create jobs by bringing critical technology to Americans who need it.

In 1935, the crisis was the Great Depression and the critical technology was electricity. In 2009, the crisis is what's being called "the Hurricane Katrina" of recessions, and the technology is broadband Internet service...