Posted on 05/03/2012 7:33:01 AM PDT by kcvl
Overwhelm the system, then say "See! See! We told you freedom doesn't work!"
The commies with the agenda KNOW these programs will be abused, and they WANT them to be abused.
The sheeperals are the frustrating ones.
They think they’re doing “good” with these programs.
“Why would you want someone to not be able to make emergency phonecalls?”
Internet services are now subsidized as well.
More spending - yay! (sarc)
Some to me like phone company welfare....Its how you keep big companies from running campaign ads against you!!
I have long had a problem with subsidizing others' phone bills. The original Universal Lifeline tax on our phone bills was to make sure that seniors had access to 911 in case of emergency. Okay, but who, other than skid row bums, doesn't have telephone service, and can't dial 911? It's my understanding that if you have a phone plugged in, and no other service, you can still dial 911. I believe that to be fedgov law. I could be wrong.
NOW! We're supposed to subsidize those with cell phones? If a person can afford to buy a cell phone and the access charges, why do they need anyone to subsidize their phone bill? Someone, please explain this to me. Seriously, I don't get it.
FORWARD!
While I share the same outrage at this theft of my money to buy votes from the democrat plantation crowd this link really raises my blood pressure to the tune of $4+ billion.
Please take the time to view this.
http://www.wthr.com/video?clipId=7054149&topVideoCatNo=103348&autoStart=true
I wish it were as simple as Cloward-Piven.
This is more like “Corporate America allowing itself to be co-opted by government in order to gain more business”.
I’m sure that T-Mobile, Cricket, Verizon...all of them lobbied for a program like this to sell phones to people who had no money. They had, after all, pretty much maxed out market share of people who could afford them. So from where is the next growth spurt to come?
Not unlike how the health insurers were not too unhappy to get 50 million new paying customers at gunpoint (the joke may be on them though)
ALL cell phones, past and pressent, access 911 by law.
That’s free—and good enough.
WOW...ILLEGALS getting tax refunds?!!!
I call it the big-government/big-corporate continuing criminal enterprise.
It Gets Worse
As if its not bad enough that youre paying for free cell phone service for other people when its tough enough to pay for your own, it gets even worse.
There are three primary companies providing the LifeLine service SafeLink Wireless, Assurance Wireless and ReachOut Wireless. Safelink, the largest player in the business, is owned by the worlds richest man, Mexican multi-billionaire Carlos Slim.
The free government cell phone scam is very profitable for the companies involved. Obviously. A billionaire like Carlos Slim wouldnt be involved otherwise.
Each customer costs the cell phone company about $3 per month for phone and minutes. But the Universal Service Fund pays the cell phone companies $10 per month for each customer.
http://www.fortliberty.org/the-government-handing-out-free-cell-phones-and-youre-paying-for-it.html
FCC Adds Broadband to Free Government Cell Phone Program
CheapInternet.com applauds FCC’s decision to offer Lifeline internet, a low-cost, high-speed broadband service for low income Americans.
February 07, 2012
Theyve been looking into it, studying it, and debating it for years. But now the Federal Communications Commission has finally approved a cheap internet-for-the-poor program similar to Lifeline, its existing free government cell phone program.
Millions of low income Americans have been waiting for this, Mark Henry, editor of CheapInternet.com said. Lifeline internet is going to make it a lot easier for low-income adults to get jobs and a lot easier for poor children to succeed in school.
Participants in the program, officially named Connect America, will be required to pay just $10 per month for high-speed broadband service. But the program is so closely allied with the Lifeline free government cell phone program that Henry expects the monthly fee to be eliminated in the future.
According to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, they intend to fund a $25 million pilot program by cracking down on fraud in the Lifeline phone program and using the savings to pay for the new benefits. Genachowski says they have already begun auditing Lifeline phone vendors to ferret out fraud and the effort has so far uncovered almost 270,000 fraudulent subscriptions in 12 states.
The FCC Chairman predicts that the changes will save as much as $2 billion over the next few years, far more than is needed to fund the beginnings of the cheap internet program.
Broadband has gone from being a luxury to being a necessity, Henry added. This program is exactly what low income Americans need to succeed.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/2/prweb9168784.htm
An easy way to fix this is to make the “Lifeline Phone” a dedicated one function device. It has only one button, and that button dials “911” (or the equivalent cell number).
Keeps the desired original functionality and eliminates the possibility of abuse.
See post #16
The FCC raised the tax on all phone service to 17% in order to fund this outrage.
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