coldsteel7
"Where will the entitlement madness finally end???"
The sprawling Federal government, bailouts & more!
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I first heard about "Obama phones" a few months ago when a man provided me his cell phone number and referred to his phone as an Obamaphone. I pressed him for details and he stated he simply had to fill out a form when he applied for food stamps and he was given a phone along with free minutes every month. He also stated that he could purchase more minutes and would be given an equal number of free minutes for any amount he paid for. I wasn't sure if he was pulling my leg, but he seemed fairly sincere about it, so I believed him and tucked it away as another ridiculous government give-away.
-5
Then comes the mailing from my Congressman, wasting paper and mail resources to brag about how he secured 28 million dollars to provide internet service to underserved areas. The argument about what is a natural (birth) right and what is a privilege is completely and forever lost on me now. There was a time in this country when rugged individualism and pride would have prevented an American from taking even the most modest of help from the government. When storms wrecked houses, neighbors pulled together to rebuild. Now we simply write a check (we spent enough after Katrina to buy a 200,000 house for every citizen...so where did all the money go?) Health care, cell phones, internet, air conditioning, and a host of other things simply are not natural rights. We have been conditioned to think that the government will always be there to bail us out instead of relying on our own abilities, families and communities. So where will the madness end.
I was pretty aggravated to see my taxpayer dollars wasted on a propaganda commercial from General Motors recently. The dishonest advertisement was a disgusting abuse of power that should be thoroughly investigated. And now, today, I am yet again peeved at the incessant waste of money our government is engaging in.
I arrived home to find a mailer from Assurance Wireless. The mailer claims that I can get a FREE CELL PHONE along with 200 FREE MINUTES PER MONTH. Eligibility is based on income or other programs. If you are already getting Medicaid, food stamps, supplementary social security, temporary assistance for needy families, federal public housing, low income housing assistance or are on the national free school lunch program, you qualify. If your income is 14K, 19K, 24K, 29K or 34K based on the size of your family (1,2,3,4 or 5 members) up to 34K for larger families you also qualify. All this on an advertisement that my tax dollars funded. Okay, this entitlement thing has GOT TO STOP.
It appears that this program is being funded by the Universal Service Fund. The Universal Service Fund has been around a long time and was intended to create a more level playing field in the telecommunications field. The law has been changed and overhauled a few times over the years, but the stated goals of Universal Service as mandated by the 1996 Act are as follows:
- To promote the availability of quality services at just, reasonable, and affordable rates,
- To increase access to advanced telecommunications services throughout the Nation,
- To advance the availability of such services to all consumers, including those in low income, rural, insular, and high cost areas at rates that are reasonably comparable to those charged in urban areas,
- To increase access to telecommunications and advanced services in schools, libraries and rural health care facilities,
- To provide equitable and non-discriminatory contributions from all providers of telecommunications services to the fund supporting universal service programs.
Okay...it is not literally tax dollars collected by the government. But it is money collected by my service providers and kicked into the fund, that is a de facto tax without the government acting as a middle man.
From my reading of the 1996 Act, it appears the fund was supposed to increase services at schools and libraries while reconciling pricing discrepancies between various parts of the countries. It talks about cost containment for lower income users but nothing about free phones. This is yet another disgusting abuse of the Free Market System. It is Socialism, wealth redistribution and another example of Class Warfare. When is the madness going to stop?
Update: I have reviewed my personal carriers and find a 2.00 charge for each of my personal accounts listed as the Universal Service Fee. It is described by the phone company as:
Telecommunications services provided by the Company are subject to a Universal Service Fund Fee. The Universal Service Fund provides telecommunications and information services to schools and libraries and rural health care facilities and subsidy for local service to high cost areas and low income households.
Man is that aggravating. I have been paying a hidden tax on my cell phone bill for years (the Bill was passed in 1996 and updated in 2005...I have seen that on my bill for quite some time but never paid it much attention. I thought it was for hearing (TYY) services for the disabled. Not a free handout.
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Unlike the previous reviewer, I'm going to start out with the legitimate problems that I think this program is designed to address. First, we live in a society where most people (unless part of an insular group like the Amish) really need some form of telecommunication services to participate in our democratic system and capitalist economy. This is all the more necessary since mail quarantines were instituted for mail sent to congressmen following the 2001 anthrax … more
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coldsteel7
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Nov 20, 2009
Last Login: Feb 19, 2011 12:55 AM UTC
Last Login: Feb 19, 2011 12:55 AM UTC
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Assurance Wireless offers a free wireless phone and 200 free minutes of wireless service to eligible customers each month. There are no bills, long-term contracts, activation fees, recurring fees, or surcharges for Assurance Wireless customers.
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If you want to get even more aggravated, check out this GAO report that shows how the Defense Department left unused 270,000 commercial airline tickets ($100 million) and then the Pentagon couldn't be bothered to get refunds for these fully refundable tickets.
That whooshing noise is the sound of our future being flushed down the toilet...
The major concern behind the origins of the SafeLink program, and its subsequent tweaking to incorporate modern technology, is to ensure that communications companies do not deny coverage based on profitability. There are important elements to our country's infrastructure, and one of these is ability to openly and effectively communicate withing its boundaries. If given the opportunity to deny services simply because of profit motivations, entire sections of the country could be denied essential telecommunications services.
So this is really less of an "entitlement" program than it is a regulation of an integral part of American life. And as with any corporation, the cost of business is passed onto you, the consumer. I agree that it sucks a bit. But not everything that needs to be done is popular.
I can understand if people feel that billions of dollars in bailouts payed to failing banks and auto manufacturers is unfair market manipulation, but giving free cellphones and reduced rates to people living 135% below the poverty line doesn't seem to be hurting Verizon or Sprint at all.
First of all...the bubbles in our economy can be tied directly back to our money being taken off the gold standard and setting up the Federal Reserve...a private entity that can produce money without silver and gold backing (everyone say thank-you Woodrow Wilson). This secret take-over of our monetary system was done in a hush-hush meeting of the top bankers down in Georgia nearly a century ago.
That devaluation of our money has allowed banks to lend money exponentially. Combined with a perfect storm of bad policies, this created one disaster and we are still awaiting MORE. Housing markets further spun out of control due to government manipulation (some might actually call that regulation) which required banks to lend to undesirable risks. Those loans were underwritten by another phony entity created by the government to reduce the risk (Fannie and Freddie...entities that Barney Frank defended right up until the end). The bad loans were bundled and sold as securities, freeing the banks to lend MORE BAD MONEY that they could simply pass along with the rest. When the housing markets corrected, the overextended loans and ridiculous gimmicks used to get unworthy credit risks into bigger homes than they could afford created a dilemma.
Basically, the housing bubble was supported by the market bubble, to hyper-inflated segments of our economy that were too directly tied into each other because of the stupid concept of selling mortgages off. When one deflates, the other does. When one pops...the other does. Deregulation had nothing to do with it.
Not only do programs like these promote entitlement, they also promote helplessness, and take away any motivation, that people who this program was designed to help, to do better for themselves and to work up the money to afford these things for themselves. If people who fall within this income bracket keep getting more than the bare necessities to survive for free, why would they ever want to strive to do better? What's going to be offered next? Diamonds and cars? Thanks for the heads up on this, John. Very interesting and thought-provoking.
I think what gets lost in these arguments about "entitlements" and "handouts" is that most people with no experience with these programs is that they tend to equate receiving government help to free samples at the supermarket. I personally have never collected welfare or food stamps, but I have met people who were forced to do so in times of need, and empathize with the shame and defeat they expressed at having to use them. Yes, they all felt helpless, but only because they had to resort to such programs, and their despair at being in such a situation was their motivation to to get out of it. Are some people content with collecting welfare rather than working? Sure. Some people are content with stealing rather than working, too. But not everyone without a job is a thief.
Now, I understand that cell-phones aren't food stamps, but in this discussion they have been lumped into the same "entitlement" category that most welfare programs get lumped into, so I don't think it is an unfair comparison. You are right, cell phones aren't a necessity to life, but they are becoming more and more a part of daily life, and if anybody wants to prove me otherwise by not using theirs for an entire month, I look forward to their testimony. I'm only kidding, of course, but an inexpensive cell phone (they aren't passing out free iPhones, after all) might be the tool that helps a single mother 135% below the poverty line obtain the job that helps her get a leg up, and that doesn't seem like such a stretch to me.
Yes, if the government starts handing out free diamonds and, I might join you in your outrage and concern. But I don't see helping the poor and working poor communicate with others as a major step towards an absolute welfare state.