In its desperate bid to make the rich and the telecommunications monopolies happy, the former British colony of Virginia is screwing over the rest of its population.

The internet speeds in the US are falling faster than a freefalling team of elephants who have forgotten to pack a parachute. Currently the US' is the 25th fastest Internet service in the world, just behind Romania, and falling.

The problem was caused by the owl worshipping George Bush who decided that his chums in the telcos would be a lot better off if they did not have so muchred tape. It sounded like a good idea even if the telcos were starting to merge and create more monopolies.

So the government watchdog, the FCC tossed out competitive broadband safeguards such as open-access requirements, which opened lines to other providers. In 2002, the agency ruled that high-speed cable Internet access would no longer be considered a telecommunications service but rather an “information service.” In 2005, the FCC also reclassified broadband delivered by the phone companies as an “information service.”

This killed off the idea that open communications in competitive markets were essential to economic growth and innovation. The nearly monopolistic telcos could effectivelty tell the customer that they could screw themselves.

Meanwhile other nations in Europe and Asia set up pro-competitive policies, which make even Romania look superior to the US, which of course, it is.