The cell phones don't bother me. It was Reagan who started that, not that it matters. If you want people to get jobs, they really need a phone. My understanding is the gov't pays < $10 a month for those phones. The phones are cheap relative to the cost of unemployment/foodstamps/medicaid benefits I view phones as a basic necessity.
Restore the import tariffs and put Americans back to work, and phone, food stamps, medicaid, and a host of other problems resolve themselves.
I wouldn’t have a problem with cell phones, either, if they were used to get jobs, but I really don’t think that’s the case. I’d feel even better if, when they do get a job, they turn in the cell phone for someone else to use.
I’m not a big fan on tariff or quotas. Years ago the steel industry was bitching because Japan was “dumping steel in the US at less than their cost”. Really? The result was import quotas and tariffs that raised the price of steel to protect and industry still using 1890’s technology and employing about 10,000 workers. So, every consumer of steel, from cars to spoons pays higher prices so less efficient workers can get $42/hour. There are dozens of like products, from oil to electronics. Plus, why should the gov’t get the revenues when they do nothing to earn it? Unfettered markets work.