By the same token, production and consumption must balance. The average Joe can consume only as much wheat as the average Jane can grow. Information is completely different. Rich and poor alike, we all run information deficits. We all take in more than we put out.
Networks have to be built accordingly.
The markets have already grasped this, even if the metaphor makers haven't. Smart people are putting their money in asymmetric technologies, with far more bandwidth coming than going. Use direct broadcast satellite, say, to provide tons of capacity down, and then close the loop by telephone or something else narrow going back. Graft asymmetric broadband onto the telephone network itself. Segment the market.