Comcast is donating heavily to defeat the mayor who is bringing gigabit fiber to Seattle
Andrea Peterson. 31 October, 2013
Issue Overview and Course Connection
This issue is yet again about the wealthy wanting to squeeze as much money as they can out of the middle and lower class, as fast as possible. It is also about government corruption, how bribery can work on any level. It is a small example of an international issue, how that when things go against the people who have the majority of the money and the power, they don't stop until things come back into their favor, and things will always come back into their favor. It shows how the American political system is set up, it is not set up to serve the entirety of the population, but rather to serve the 1% of people who hold all the wealth of the country. This isn't just in America, this is a global issue where companies can influence the government so much as to change their political standpoint.
Key Stakeholders
There are two key stakeholders in this article. The first is the company Gigabit Squared, a company who wants to partner with the city of Seattle to get $45,100mbs or $80, 1gbs internet speed for all residences of the city. The mayor says it will be payed like a water or hydro bill and be a reliable service just like water and hydro.
On the other side there is Comcast, who are a major tech company in USA. They are apposed to this idea because it wipes the floor with their own service which is $114.99 a month for 100mps speeds. If this mayor would to win the election the money that Comcast would lose would be huge. That is why they are heavily donating towards the other candidate Ed Murray who is apposed to the project with Gigabyte Squared. In total donating about $52,500 towards his election campaign
On the other side there is Comcast, who are a major tech company in USA. They are apposed to this idea because it wipes the floor with their own service which is $114.99 a month for 100mps speeds. If this mayor would to win the election the money that Comcast would lose would be huge. That is why they are heavily donating towards the other candidate Ed Murray who is apposed to the project with Gigabyte Squared. In total donating about $52,500 towards his election campaign
Contributing Factors / Implications
There is only one contributing factor to the issue being faced within the article, it is an issue that not a single person is immune to, it is the issue of money. How people don't see other people as humans, but rather potential paychecks/income. It is the potential economic loss of money for Comcast, a major cable company. versus a relatively smaller company in Gigabyte Squared. What this means and shows is that politics can be bought by corporations, and that is a scary thought knowing that companies whose goal is to make money can buy the people whose goal is to protect you.
Bias
This article does have a very huge bias. It sets Comcast out to be some evil corporation that is set out to drain USA of all its wealth. Upon further research it turns out that they are. They won the 2014 award for the worst company in America (source) as well as to my research having not a single 3 or higher star rating anywhere on the internet. This article on the other hand doesn't bring up the problems with Gigabyte Squared, which are they don't service a large area and their up time isn't as great as it could be.