Reddit user bgog explains why the US Internet traffic is so slow right now (reddit.com)

Well, it's a generic description, we don't really know how many routers and hubs are really down. There's a better post downthread listing actual issues, but none of them look major.

How is this the first we're hearing of this?

This seems to be an extraordinary issue, how is this not covered in any form of media?

It doesn't do that, it's just a generic explanation of routing.

The site with the bad statistics is likely bad.

This http://www.internetpulse.net/ is a much better site to see what is actually happening.