®’?e Ç ortlanh (Observer
Page 6
March 5, 2014
New Prices
Effective
May 1,2010
Martin
Cleaning
Service
•'
,< W
R E
T hé i N f ô p / H A f t O b l
§ b p É R H |< 5 ^
Carpet & Upholstery
Cleaning
Residential &
Commercial Services
Minimum Service CHG
$45.00
A small distance/travel charge
may be applied
CARPET CLEANING
2 Cleaning Areas or
more $30.00 Each Area
Pre-Spray Traffic Areas
(Includes: 1 small Hallway)
1 Cleaning Area (only)
$40.00
Includes Pre-Spray Traffic Area
(Hallway Extra)
Stairs (12-16 stairs - With
O ther Services): $25.00
Area/Oriental Rugs:
$25.00Minimum
Area/Oriental Rugs (Wool):
$40.00Minimum
Heavily Soiled Area:
Additional $10.00 each area
(Requiring Extensive Pre-Spraying)
UPHOLSTERY
CLEANING
Sofa: $69.00
Loveseat: $49.00
Sectional: $109 - $139
Chair or Recliner:
$25 - $49
Throw Pillows (With
th
Other Services): $5.00
% W
ADDITIONAL
SERVICES
• Area & Oriental Rug
Cleaning
• Auto/Boat/RV Cleaning
• Deodorizing & Pet
Odor Treatment
• Spot & Stain
Removal Service
• Scotchguard Protection
• Minor Water Damage
Services
SEE CURRENT FLYER
FOR ADDITIONAL
PRICES & SERVICES
Call for Appointment
(503) 281-3949
Roadblocks to the Information Superhighway
Falling short on
putting the
public first
by
S am P izzigati
Back in the in
fan c y
of
th e
Internet Age, our
h ip p e s t
p o lic y
wonks orated end
le s s ly a b o u t th e
emerging “information superhigh
way.”
But that m outhful of a m oniker
w ould soon fall out o f fashion.
A nyone today who talks about
the “inform ation superhighw ay”
com es across as a hopelessly
uncool 1990s throwback.
The irony here? If we truly
treated the Internet as a “super
highw ay,” m aybe we w ouldn’t
find ourselves in the online mess
that now envelops us.
Am ericans currently pay much
more for Internet access than ju st
about everybody else in the de
veloped world. M any other coun
tries have established fast, cheap
Internet access as a given of m od
ern life. In the United States, we
surf the Net at M odel T speeds —
and tens o f m illions of Am ericans
still have no broadband at all.
This pitiful situation may soon
get even worse. Two corporate
giants, Com cast and Time W arner,
are now seeking regulatory ap
proval for a $45 billion merger that
w ould leave C om cast controlling
the bulk o f the nation’s broad
band access.
In 19 o f the nation’s 20 larg
e st m etro a re a s, the “o n ly
choice for a high-capacity wired
connection will be C om cast,”
points out telecom industry
w atchdog Susan Crawford.
So how would thinking “super
h ig h w ay ” help us out o f this
m ess? A m erica’s only actual “su
p erhighw ay” — our Interstate
road netw ork — dem onstrates
quite neatly the wonders we can
realize once we start thinking
about basic infrastructure as a
public good, not a source o f grand
private fortune.
O ur Interstate’s greatest cham
p io n ,
P re s id e n t
D w ig h t
Eisenhow er, believed that every
citizen had a “vital interest” in a
“safe and adequate highway sys
tem .” In 1956, Ike signed legisla
tion that authorized A m erica’s
largest public works project ever,
the construction o f a new super
highway that would operate to
tally under public control.
T his p u b lic co n tro l sim ply
seem ed the only way to go for
Am ericans in the m iddle o f the
20th century — and not ju st for
highw ays. These years w ould see
a vast expansion o f public infra
structure, for everything from rec
reation to education.
W hat explains this golden age
o f infrastructure? R elative eco
nom ic equality certainly played a
prim e role. By the 1950s, the
n atio n ’s original plutocracy had
faded away. A mass m iddle class,
the w orld’s first ever, had jum ped
onto political center stage.
M ost A m ericans in this new,
m ore equal A m erica faced sim ilar
problem s. Public solutions ju st
seem ed com m on sense. Build the
Interstate with public tax dollars?
O perate the Interstate under pub
lic control? O f course. Am ericans
o f the m id-20th century could see
no alternative.
An alternative — we know to
day in our much m ore unequal
A m erica — does exist: Private in
terests could control our public
goods. We could have decided 60
years ago to lease out the Inter
state to private com panies.
If we had organized the Inter
state along these lines, anyone
w anting to ride the system would
have been paying tribute all these
years to private corporations. And
the execs in those corporations
would have becom e rich enough
to corrupt our political system —
and keep their m onopoly pow er
secure.
This scenario should all sound
a bit fam iliar. In contem porary
A m erica, w e’ve let private corpo
rations determ ine who can access
our data superhighw ay. That con
trol has generated grand fortunes
— and form idable political power.
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts has
becom e a billionaire. His top lob
byist used to sit on the Federal
Communications Commission, the
agency that has to decide whether
to approve the C om cast m erger
with Tim e W arner. The other fed
eral body with a say in the m erger
has a chief who helped grease the
skids, as a corporate attorney, for
C om cast’s 2011 takeover o f NBC
Universal.
Brian Roberts and his corpo
rate counterparts have essentially
created a giant w ealth extraction
m achine,sucking on average over
$150 a m onth per household for
TV, phone, and Internet, a bundle
that costs a French household in
Paris much less than one-third that
price.
W hat’s the first step toward
turning this situ atio n around?
S to p the C o m ca st and T im e
W arner merger.
OtherWords columnist Sam
Pizzigati is an Institute fo r Policy
Studies associate fellow.