Did you know that the federal government is giving out free cell phones and free cell phone minutes to welfare recipients? It may be hard to believe, but it is true. Right now, there are companies that are running advertisements specifically targeted at low income Americans informing them of the fact that all they have to do is sign up and they can get a free cell phone and hundreds of free cell phone minutes every single month and it will all be paid for by the federal government. Some have referred to this as "The Obama Phone", but that is not exactly accurate. The outrageous federal programs that are paying for this were initiated before Barack Obama entered the White House. But the fact that welfare recipients have been receiving free cell phones and free cell phone minutes under both the Bush and Obama administrations has been confirmed as being true by Snopes. All of this is paid for by "the federal Universal Service Fund". That is one of those annoying little taxes that you may have noticed on your phone bill. So what is essentially happening is the federal government is taking money from all of us so that they can provide free cell phone service for welfare recipients every single month.
When some of my readers informed me of this free cell phone scheme, I decided that I better go to the source. So I went over to the FCC website, and it turns out that there are two federal programs involved. "Link Up" provides a one-time connection discount on phone service, and it can be applied to the cost of a cell phone. So this is where the free cell phone comes from. "Lifeline" provides a monthly discount on telephone service. So this is where the free cell phone minutes each month come from. The following is a description of these programs from the FCC website....
What Benefits are Available Under the Lifeline and Link Up Programs?
- Lifeline provides discounts on one basic monthly telephone service (wireline or wireless) for qualified subscribers. These discounts can be up to $10.00 per month, depending on your state. Federal rules prohibit qualifying low-income consumers from receiving more than ONE Lifeline service at the same time. That is, qualifying low-income consumers may receive a Lifeline discount on either a home telephone or wireless telephone service, but may not receive a Lifeline discount on both services at the same time. Lifeline also includes Toll Limitation Service, which enables a telephone subscriber to limit the amount of long distance calls that can be made from a telephone.
- Link Up Up provides qualified subscribers with a one-time discount (up to a maximum of $30) off of the initial installation fee for one traditional, wireline telephone service at the primary residence or the activation fee for one wireless telephone. It also allows subscribers to pay the remaining amount they owe on a deferred schedule, interest-free. Federal rules prohibit qualifying low-income consumers from receiving more than ONE Link Up discount at a primary residence. That is, qualifying low-income consumers may receive a Link Up discount on installation or activation charges associated with either a home telephone or wireless telephone service.
Apparently these programs are becoming quite popular.
You can find a company called Safelink Wireless offering welfare recipients a free cell phone and 250 free cell phone minutes a month right here.
You can find a company called Assurance Wireless offering welfare recipients a program that is virtually identical right here.
This is absolutely outrageous, and it is yet another sign that dependence on the government is totally out of control.
Not that assisting the poor is bad. Of course we always want to help those that cannot help themselves. We never want to see anyone go without daily food or sleep in the streets.
But providing the poor with the basics of life is much different from providing them with luxuries such as cell phones.
In some areas of the country, the poor can also receive nearly free Internet service every single month.
Just check out the following example from the Houston Chronicle....
When Comcast acquired NBC Universal earlier this year, an FCC-mandated requirement was that the cable giant offer cheap Internet access to low-income households. Comcast is making good on the mandate through a new program called Internet Essentials.
Families who qualify will be able to sign up for 1.5-Mbps Internet access – the same download speed as AT&T’s basic DSL service – for just $9.95 a month. Customers may also be eligible for a computer that costs just $150 and free Internet training.
Also, a new bill has been introduced in Congress that would give "eligible" households money to help pay for gasoline....
Low-Income Gasoline Assistance Program Act - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to states to establish emergency assistance programs to pay eligible households for the purchase of gasoline.
These days, as long as you are "eligible", just about everything you need will either be purchased for you or subsidized by the federal government.
Yes, we will always need programs to help take care of the poor, but some of the things that go on today are absolutely outrageous.
There are millions of people out there that have become extremely comfortable receiving government benefits and it will be extremely difficult to ever get them to give them up.
After all, why bust your behind for 40 or 50 hours a week at some meaningless, low paying job when you can live a similar lifestyle by just depending on government benefits?
The following is a rap video that shows the kind of mindset that is developing all across America. Please be advised that it contains some very strong language. It was done by a rapper known as "Mr. EBT", and it is a perfect example of the kind of attitude that many welfare recipients have today....
Yes, everyone needs a helping hand once in a while. But if you do have to rely on government benefits for a time, you should be fighting like crazy to improve your situation so that you can get off of them as soon as possible.
Of course the biggest welfare recipients of all are the big corporations. The federal government showers billions upon billions of dollars on them every year, and this has got to stop.
The following example comes from an article in the Weekly Standard....
General Electric, one of the largest corporations in America, filed a whopping 57,000-page federal tax return earlier this year but didn't pay taxes on $14 billion in profits. The return, which was filed electronically, would have been 19 feet high if printed out and stacked.
Can you imagine a 57,000 page federal tax return?
That is absolutely disgusting and it is a perfect example of how corrupt our system has become.
All year long, GE has people pouring over the tax code just looking for any little tax loophole that it can exploit.
GE made $14,000,000,000 in profits, but they paid less taxes to the government than you or I did.
There is something very, very wrong with that picture.
All of this unnecessary welfare has got to stop.
No more free cell phones for people on welfare.
No more giving billions of dollars in tax breaks to big corporations.
We simply cannot afford it.
The U.S. debt problem is way, way out of control. We have piled up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world, and it gets about 150 million dollars worse every single hour.
Sadly, none of this is likely to change any time soon.
The big corporations provide the money that our politicians need to win campaigns, and most of our politicians are very careful not to bite the hands that feed them.
On the other end of the spectrum, our economy continues to crumble and the number of poor Americans continues to increase. So even if we don't provide them with free cell phones, the truth is that the number of Americans that need basic food and housing is not going to go down any time soon. In fact, it is going to go a lot higher in the years ahead.
We are rapidly becoming a European-style socialist welfare state.
In America today, the poor are absolutely showered with outrageous government benefits and so are the big corporations.
So who pays for all of this?
You and I do.
I am afraid that the joke is on us, and nothing is going to change as long as we keep sending the same kind of politicians back to Washington D.C. over and over.
LMAO, that’s right up there with the Greeks paying for pedophiles.
Financially Ruined Greece Decides Pedophiles Qualify for Gov’t Disability
http://patriotupdate.com/17098/financially-ruined-greece-decides-pedophiles-qualify-for-govt-disability
Rodster:
I was not aware of that. No wonder Greece is having so many problems.
In fact, for much more on the situation in Greece, check out this article that I just published….
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/20-signs-that-europe-is-plunging-into-a-full-blown-economic-depression
Michael
Michael,
How many times and in how many ways do I have to say this? Amerikans vote for three things and three things only every election cycle:
1. Warfare State
2. Police State
3. Welfare State
Any politician who campaigns on significantly scaling back or flat out eliminating any of these pillars of decadent society is deemed unelectable in the eyes of the braindead amerikan masses. You may not like it but all evidence clearly supports the fact that this is the current reality (not the Karl Rove version) on the ground in amerika.
What is required is massive social change in amerika and around the world. People have to stand for a way of life that is both honorable and noble, something that all people can be proud of and want to pass on to succeeding generations. And until that time comes, all you will ocntinue to see are articles like these day in and day out………….
There is a difference between GE not paying taxes and welfare. GE is an example of crony capitalism. Jeffry Immelt is a big Obama contributor, so GE gets a free ride. GE isn’t paying taxes, but they are creating jobs and their employees pay taxes. As far as I’m concerned, we should eliminate all corporate tax and level the playing field. Business would boom, we’d have lots of jobs, and Crony Capitalism would be gone.
It’s America, not amerika. Get it right!
Mattyboy,
Uh, no, it isn’t. You totally miss the point in the spelling. The point being is that what “America” was supposed to be and in many cases was in the past, is no longer true. Consider the following:
1. Torture, which is still illegal on the books, is now envogue and seen as necessary to “feel safe”
2. People do not care, especially grown adults if their spouses and children are sexually assaulted at airports by pedophiles hired by the government because of their childish fears of terrorists being anywhere and everywhere
3. The masses, by and large, starting at the top, no longer want to work or run legitimate businesses. Why waste the time and suffer the headaches when you can get government welfare transfer payments and run casinos that the government will bail out should you come up snake-eyes and lose on your bets
4. War and mass killing are now seen as normal, so normal in fact that it is largely outsourced to mercenary killers for hire. Blackwater anyone? And no, I don’t call it Xe or whatever its latest name change is…………..
5. Police state brutality is cheered by rightwing radicals because the receiving party obviously “deserves” it. Don’t believe me? Check out You Tube and you will see just how brutal criminal pigs with guns and badges can and will be. Some of the heinous acts commited against unarmed and defensless men, women, and children are worse than despicable. Latest case in point of brutal, criminal behavior by thugs with badges and guns is the Occupy movements. These acts are the stuff that war criminals and cowards are made of……….
When the masses get their heads out of you no where, turn this around and develop an honorable society then you can go back to spelling it as America. Until then, as long as this society, through its government and police state apparatus continue to behave like an empire on a permanent rampage, killing and destroying all in its path like King Kong I will continue to use the Amerika spelling.
Don’t like it, then push for a change in the way society lives and behaves towards others…………..
Sadly, Rodster, I was praying you kidding. These are the same ppl who are leaving their children bcuz they cannot care for them.
I wish I were kidding but when it comes to socialist nothing surprises me anymore. Oh and we can expand that list to Greek exhibitionists and sadomasochists.
Every one on disability and SSI just got a 3% pay raise and now we can get a free cell phone too. Wow such a deal. How and Why do they do this when the U.S. Government’s money is so tight? Seems like they are on purpose trying to drive us into default.
Take away our rights, build FEMA camps, what’s next a date with the executioner?
See how to survive the coming Economic Collapse at: http://surviving12-21-2012.blogspot.com
“Seems like they are on purpose trying to drive us into default.”
It’s called the Cloward and Piven strategy and it’s been employed by the left in this country since LBJ’s Great Society.
I saw advertisements for the free cell phone service on television last year. I have said this before, but it is worth repeating that the reason we have so many poor is that the poverty level in America is four times the AVERAGE income in Mexico.
A democracy can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse out of the public treasury. From that moment on the majority, he said, always vote for the candidate promising the most benefits from the treasury with the result that democracy always collpases over a loose fiscal policy, always to be followed by a dictatorship. – Alexander Fraser Tytler
who cares what the average income is in Mexico-this is America. Our poverty level is probably a 100 times the rate in Somolia. So Fing what?
Are you conservatives so ignorant that you do not know the difference between absolute and relative poverty?
A lot of the Nordic countries have a way lower poverty rate than we do se maybe we need to follow their model!
I do not know what you are a pastor of except stupidity!
“Our poverty level is probably a 100 times the rate in Somolia.”
Uhh, no. I’ve been to Somalia – 2 weeks after Black Hawk Down to be precise, and no you’re wrong.
“A lot of the Nordic countries have a way lower poverty rate than we do se maybe we need to follow their model!”
Gary2, are you so ignorant that you do not know the difference between absolute and relative poverty? I lived in Europe for years and you’re WRONG on this too.
Why is it that so much of what you communists “know” is so wrong?
I said that backwards-Somolia has a poverty rate 100 times worse than ours.
My point was that comparing our poverty rate to anothers country means nothing.
The conspiracy theroist in me says:
It’s easier to organize people if they all have cell phones. All it takes is a simple text message or two to create a crises.
Tom I immediately thought the same thing another way to control the masses.
you are both paranoid. How can you go through life like this.
Michael, you seem to be having difficulty lately. I’d expect this kind of anti-gummint screed on a nutbar website like Faux news. Where’s the cogent economic analysis and tea-leaf-reading that made this site stand out versus so many others? Hopefully you can turn it around and begin posting thought-provoking articles again.
Maybe you should stop reading the Daily Kos for your news…Cell phones are not a right and there is no reason that we the taxpayer should pay for this….If you don’t see this, then you are the part of the problem
I agree-Michael whats up? You have really went to the crazy fox news side.
LMAO – Faux News. You wascaly lil troll you. I’m betting you thin MSNBC is actual Journalism.
all the MSM is crap!
You really are an evil little *******, aren’t you?
No, my goal is to be the exact opposite of evil.
Michael
If your goal is to be the “exact opposite of evil” then you will have to stop being conservative as conservatism is the embodiment of evil.
Me thinks you struck a nerve.
‘Truth’ and ‘Right’ are directly proportional to how vitriolic a leftist gets.
I have a close friend who was on social security disability for mental issues. He and his family were on every government program imaginable for about a decade. He was finally able to get help with his mental issues, and realized that he needed to get to work if he was ever going to break the cycle for his children. It was such a leap for him because he knew that going to work would mean that they would actually have a WORSE standard of living than they had living off the government. It was very hard for him to say “Yes, I’m going to work 40+ hours a week to have less money than before”. There are millions of people in the same boat that he was in, and it’s going to get ugly if all of those programs are yanked away. My friend did it by choice and it was extremely difficult. I can’t even imagine the response when it all disappears without their “consent”.
And cell phones? Seriously? I didn’t have a cell phone up till about 2 years ago. I felt like the last person on the planet to get one, but I just couldn’t afford it and it wasn’t a NECESSITY. I have one now, and it’s convenient, but certainly not life-or-death. That’s crazy.
Interesting article Michael.
Although, I’m not sure I agree…
I mean, in today’s society, you HAVE to have a phone to get a job (Contact Information)… And a cell phone can be an invaluable tool, in a life or death situation.
So, I do not disagree with everyone being able to have a phone… Sorry, but the fact is, if you are are down and out, how can you climb back up, without any help? I mean, without a phone, employers don’t contact you (How can they?)
However, I do not agree with giving people “Freebies” just so they can lounge around all day, talking it up… But given the sources and information, it seems as though, the phones and minute plans are being discounted, rather than being given away for free…
So, personally, I believe a cell phone is right up their with food and water as a necessity, because you simply cannot get a job without one…
There are millions of working class families out there today that are working as hard as they can and yet they cannot afford even one cell phone.
Michael
yes michael but i’ll bet they have landlines. I didnt have a cell until about 2 years ago…when i got a temp job and travelled 45 min by car each way. Thats when i realized i Needed one.
Same thing with wireless i upgraded my router/modem and I am typing on an old apple laptop with nothing connected to it…and yet some of you have been doing this the last 10 years..but now I need a new wireless laptop probably buy one in the next 2 weeks when the income tax refund comes in.
I really feel sorry fo really poor people they are getting so far behind the technology curve that maybe to only way to help is to kick out millions of illegals so they can have all the manual labor jobs…and have the $$$ to upgrade to better jobs
Yes they can. They can get a cheap pre pay phone from family dollar or any store. I know because I have one as well. That statent is not accurate because those so called middle class families also go to target and buy groceries with their credit cards.
I am a blue collar worker, and prior to getting my job, I was without a cell phone, and found it difficult corresponding with potential employers, ended up driving around a lot instead of making calls. I now have a cell phone, but it is the basic $19/month minimum 300 minutes per month and thats all I can budget for,(I do not have a home phone) Yet I see so many people with food stamps and living on wlefare with IPhones…something is very wrong there. I agree with you about having to be connected today in order to correspond for work, but also agree with Michaelthat there are many hard working people that cannot afford a cell phone and/or internet.
Most people on welfare with iphones are selling there bodies to fat cats and big wigs… Just the way the eliete like it..
You do know that there is such a thing as an AFFORDABLE land line? My mom worked with these supposed “poor” people and you would not believe the corruption. Most drove new cars like Audi 4000′s, one took her not-yet one year old child to Disneyland, most have cable or satellite t.v., I could go on and on. Most of these people have WAY more than you and I, and all to sit on their butts all day. Most have been in the same subsidized neighborhood for generations (I’ve seen up to 5 gens. in one family’s case) – most are related because their kids inner-breed with their neighbor kids…speaking of their kids, most are delinquents who turn out just like their parents and just take, take, take. Would you like me to keep going?
You are making this up. I have worked with poor and am poor and I have NEVER seen or heard of what you describe, never. It is made up right wing crap like the Reagen welfare queen BS.
If by chance there are people like you describe they are a tiny minority of the poor and if they are scamming the system then they need to be dealt with harshly. Do not lump in all the poor with the scammers.
Even a right winger should know that antecdotal evidece is the worst most unreliable type of evidence.
Its the republicans wifes husbands paying for black peach in the PJ’s what she supposed to do report her income?
Black paid less
Woman paid less
College super expensive
And like many are finding out with there itunes collection- the music was never yours, leased. Same as your mortgage and your car and boat for u upper crusts.. I say the black woman in this position is damed if she gets off and damed if she dont.
White guys paying for peaches of all colors, moma/ sister tends to spread the wealth. Giving a image of opulance for selling there bodies. The rest is people drug dealing because they feel like wage slaves. Pay people whT there worth and wlfare will dissapear.
All that you idiotic leftists have to do is google welfare queen.
Malcom stop “app” -ing the internet to death.. Look a little deeper.
Call me a liar if you wish, however, that does not change the fact that what I said was true.
It is things like this that should prove even to Gary that the Federal Government wastes our money. Why raise taxes to waste more of it?
Your argument is very weak. You mean that while there exist an expenditure from the government that you or somebody else can consider as a waste, there is no justification to raise taxes. Obviously you mean there is NEVER right to raise taxes.
But what about the example of General Electric provided by Michael? Don’t you think that the taxes on the rich and on the big corporations should be raised, and more important, should be enforced effectively?
Instead of raising rates, how about just eliminating all deductions on those making $250k or more…Eliminate all deductions for corporations…..This is basically what Obama’s debt commission called for…before he ignored them.. Eliminate deductions on all income above $250k…Even Gary ought to like that….
Though a lot of people will flee to lower tax countries…
Though a lot of people will flee to lower tax countries
this is a right wing myth. there is no proof. You need to think for yourself.
Where are they going to go? Taxes are higher in other developed countries?
“Where are they going to go? Taxes are higher in other developed countries?”
And there are several countries with lower taxes where the money is flowing to now. Singapore, for instance.
And those higher tax countries are all socialists and couldn’t dream of coming close to competing with the United States. That is, of course, until you communists kill it and start purging capitalists. *shrug*, It’s what leftists do.
It looks like the latest stategy of the lobbyists is to have our elected whores place a tax on their clients’ services to pay the bills for more of those services enjoyed for free by the likes of Gary2. Gotta’ hand it to ‘em. Almost as shrewd as old John D. Rockefeller billing the railroads to let them carry his oil.
the lifeline program has been around 6 years now . it was originally intended for cheap 911″access for the poor . it wasnt all the governments fault .big buisness jumped on the bandwagon and had the phone program expanded and they are getting government money…same thing happened with the ebt food stamp card.. big bank now hadling it instead of the states. …cheaper to pay a company to handle it.than pay peoples salary to run itfor the state.. really sad thing.
My understanding is these programs are backed by many conservative congressmen, as they are the sort of program that give a leg up rather than a handout. Imagine trying to get a job without a phone. If a prospective employer can’t call you, then you won’t get a job. It’s even difficult in some areas to get information about basic services, or conduct basic day-to-day business without an internet connection.
Imagine trying to raise a kid without a phone. I grew up middle class, but in a poor area. I knew several kids whose only phone was a pay phone down the street, and I could tell it was a real problem for teachers to communicate with their parents.
Is it ideal? Hardly. Is it relatively cheap for society, and better than the alternative. Probably.
Seriously, I enjoy the blog, but not everything is the end of the world.
Hey, what’s the problem? I mean last year there were people receiving Social Security Disability who were signing up for online classes, “buying”, laptops, mostly from “rent-to-own” stores, for the purpose of receiving $5,000.00 checks. The question is, what would a disabled person need with a “better” education? The trick, of course, was to simply sign up, enter the classes and never actually finish the courses, but definitely keep our tax-payer provided “grants”.
It goes without saying that many of the people I meet who receive Social Security Disability are far from disabled and usually have a “business on-the-side”.
That’s a bit unfair… I’ve known quite a few disabled people in the computer industry, and they all had physical disabilities but nothing wrong up top, computer industry is the best place for people like that. I mean these are not guys who are ever going to be working at a steel mill, but when you put them at a desk with a computer and a phone, no problem.
Sure, there are some guys who give up and can’t be bothered making a go of it. There’s no such thing as a perfect world, but you would prefer to have disabled people working somewhere than not at all right?
It is not a question of those who legitimately have a disability, it is a matter of those gaming the system on the backs of those who bear the brunt of the tax burden in this country. These are people who I see on a nearly daily basis who will tell you to your face that their purpose was and is to get as much money from the government as possible and do nothing for it. These are people who have absolutely no intention of getting an education but only worked the system to get a checK. In most cases, the person, from the evidence I’ve seen would “rent” the computer for a month or two in order to pass the requirement of registration in the classes and then return the computer, keep the check and go about their merry parasitic ways! The are a carbunkle on the ass of our decaying society!
I have no problem with anyone who wants to better themselves, but I have absolutely no respect or compassion for blood-sucking leaches who pretend to be disable in order to lay their sorry asses around the house living off of my labor!
Sorry if that offends your sensibilities however, the truth is that there are so many who have been taught from an early age that such fraud is perfectly acceptable and they will do anything necessary to continue stealing from the hard-working people of this country as long as they can or as long as we will allow such blatantly open robbery!
Those who do such things are pure scum and deserve their poverty, as well as their plight!
I think you’re just making this up to look tough on this forum.
Michael…you are so out of line with this..
You only get 128 minutes a month and the unused minutes rolls over to the next month or 250 and you lose what you don’t use. if you run out you can buy minutes.
OK yes its another freakin handout but most welfare people dont have a landline and 128 minutes a month 4 minutes per day is a small price to pay to get that call for a job or someone is sick or dying..
So can you live on 4 or 8 minutes of phone usage a day????
Maybe Michael you should have the guts to ask a welfare recipient BEFORE they get benefits how can you afford that I-phone? You’d be called a racist on the spot.
Its interesting how you all attack the poor and yet, you tea party members use food stamps and credit cards at the same time at target, wal-mart, home depot, and k-mart. You attack black people, but you don’t white tea party members that also use the Obama phones as well. I see white people use food stamps and credit cards and brag about it in front of the cashier at target. I work at retail in a white populated area. So, don’t blame all of this on black people because it fits your needs. Blame many of the white tea party members as well. Also, white people, stop using four coupons on one item at retail stores, cheating the system. No wonder why extreme couponing turned out to be fake.
I see you are using the old and tired argument of “racism”. Funny how the word is loosing all meaning. Let’s see, I’m racist because I don’t like that the current admin. is purposely trying to destroy my country? Really? LOL!!!!!
Just like how you said “my” country. Where have I heard this before? Oh yeah, the tea party meetings where you all say things like, “I want my contry back”, Tell me something, who do you want your country back from? Sorry son, this country was built on the back on many black people before you and I, so this is our country, not yours alone as so many white people tend to believe.
What makes you think I’m White? Mr. Tolerant!!!!!
The sad part is that the right wingers actually believe they are not racsist as they fly the confederate flag on the back of their motorized gov scooters.
See study info below that proves conservatives are indeed rascists because they are all so dumb. It is really that simple.
I’ve often wondered how Christianists and the Tea Party crowd can cling to beliefs that defy logic and
scientific fact. Now, we may have the answer: they’re simply stupid. I mean literally dumb from an
intelligence perspective
There’s no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be
dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy
Gary2,
You seem to respect the Academia a lot.
In that case can I remind you of a study, not long ago, by a Japanese academic, that stated black women where objectively uglier than white or asian women.
That study stirred up a lot of public controversy, so according to your reasoning that means it is true.
While you’re at it, please explain how flying a colored piece of cloth can be racist on its own.
WTF does “racist” have to do with this???
Maybe we should make their house & car payments too…I mean how are they supposed to get to work or the unemployment office????? Maybe we should also buy them a cruise to help with their stress levels over their job interviews???
Holy Cow….people need to be responsible for themselves at some point….Lets just jack the minimum wage to $60.00 an hour so everyone will be middle class……Welfare or unemployment should be for 6 months max…no phones, no cars…
But seriously take your RACIST Bull Excrement elsewhere
I agree also why is everyone bashing this article assuming all these people with “free” cell phones are looking for work.
It has a lot to do with it and yes, your past posts are indeed, quite racist towards blacks and you like attacking the poor like you superior than everyone else. That is the problem with many white people. They feel like they are superior than any other race and all we got to do is look at history and it shows. You say responsibility, but you don’t mind Ron Paul using earmarks to his advantage and yes, he enjoys using tax payer dollars for his corporate flights. Don’t joke on the poor and I will never wish anything like that on you even though, you think that you’re superior.
So, when black people objected to Bush were they racist? Because I object to the president’s policies it has nothing to do with race…Bernie Sanders, Howard Dean if they were president I would object to just as strenously… I object to all the stupid policies of the left and those who implement them…I despise Nancy Pelosi and Harry reid every bit as much as I despise Obummer…
I don’t think white people are any better than any other race.. I think Allen West, Herman Cain, Marco Rubio, Susan Martinez and all conservatives are equal…IT has NOTHING to do with RACE, it has to do with what they are trying to do…
I believe this dude is far more racist than you and I could ever be. There are plenty of non-whites that would agree with me.
@knighowl77 according to white people, blacks were called racist for protesting bush. The point is that your past posts sounds very racist although, I Agee with you on some things in this site.
If you right wingers are not rascist then why do you get so defensive when accused?
Its because the right is really rascist.
Lets just jack the minimum wage to $60.00 an hour so everyone will be middle class
I am glad we agree-tax the rich and spread the wealth.
Tax the greedy to help the needy.
I actually think Min wage should be $19 per hour so you are being more progressive then even I am.
It was/is SARCASM…and raising the minimum wage has nothing to do with TAXES, it has to do with destroying the country which is what you espouse.
OBAMA ELIGIBILITY COURT CASE…BLOW BY BLOW
http://www.thenationalpatriot.com/?p=4138#more-4138
One thing to which there seems no doubt. He does NOT qualify, under the definition of “Natural Born Citizen” provided by SCOTUS opinions, to be eligible to serve as President.
What will the judge decide? That is yet to be known, but it seems nearly impossible to believe, without counter testimony or evidence, because Obama and his attorney chose not to participate, that Obama will be allowed on the Georgia ballot
It will be very interesting to see how that judge handles this one.
Michael
Obama is a natural born citizen. You got this from Phil berg, who is indeed a liar. Just like how you all say that Iran is going to be attack by December of last year.
Then there is the fact that his entire birth narrative is false incluing the addrsss of where he said he lived, etc.
THEN there is the fact that he has a social security number issued from Connecticut in 1977, a state he never lived in, to a man who has since died, a federal offense.
Remember when journalists did their job ?
The guy showed his birth certificate, so did john mccain, man, you really got to stop listening to everything alex jones says. Alex jones says a lot of things, but he is controlled opposition, just like Ron Paul. That brings up something, how you all against government, but vote for a guy (Ron Paul) that want to bring back states rights?
conservatives are low information fools. Do not pay them any heed.
Poor people have become dependent on welfare because there are no jobs. This is not a new phenomena either. Since at least the 70′s, America has been shutting down manufacturing plants in big cities. This quickly created ghettos when Blacks from the south relocated to big cities across America only to be met with factory closings and White folks fleeing as fast as possible for the fresh newly built suburbs. Blacks in the inner city were left with no jobs which created massive crime and an underground economy of drugs, prostitution and gangs to survive outside of the system. Cities like Detroit and Baltimore are so violent, poor, dangerous and ghetto because of deindustrialization and White flight. Because there were no more good paying manufacturing jobs for folks in the inner cities, people with often poorly paid jobs, who weren’t involved in the illegal underground economy, had to depend on welfare to make ends meet because supposedly no one starves in America under Uncle Sam’s watch. Now, the same problems that turned American inner cities in hellholes (outsourcing, manufacturing plant shutdowns, lay-offs etc.) are now effecting a much wider demographic as middle class white collar and blue collar jobs are outsourced and automated. As a result, more people are on welfare today than ever before. The hardest workers in America today are usually illegal immigrants because they are willing to work long hours for very little pay. Many illegal immigrants also share tiny apartments with 20 other working men. Illegal immigrants still live like they are residents of the third world. American employers eat this up and take full of advantage of this virtual slave labor. Most jobs advertised in the newspaper where I live now commonly state “bilingual” . What this means is that no one speaks English at the job site and don’t bother applying if you are an American-born citizen who wants to make over $7 an hour and doesn’t want to get paid slave wages under the table. Many American employers are hoping American workers will stop being so spoiled and start living like illegal immigrants. The bottom line of a global economy is a setting an equal worldwide standard living for the majority of American people that is equal to the sad abject squalor which is common in the poorest places in Asia, Latin America and Africa.
amerkaka = poverty and early death. no dental ins. let romneypig win and cut out the va and the tanks will surely roll over dccomics
I agree with your comment. In Europe is the same. The standard of living and rights of the working people, that have been obtained during the last century with a lot of fight, now are being torpedoed by ‘the markets’ and dismantled by governments, in the name of the ‘austerity’ mantra. An austerity that obviously is not applied to the financial system. For them the stream of money is full open. People here is so tired that accept any labor reform without a fight. I think this was the whole point of this fabricated ‘crisis’.
Dear Michael,
Thank you for the information that you provide.
Cheers,
Dmitry
Dmitry:
Thank you. And I realize that not everyone will agree with me on this article. It just struck a bit of a chord with me.
Michael
Are there some poor people who take advantage of the system? Yes, but the bigger picture (much bigger, in fact) is one of millions of unemployed or underemployed neo-poor Americans who are fighting like hell to get back into the middle class yet find themselves stuck in poverty. This is what happens when a developed country un-develops and becomes part of the Third World. Most of the neo-poor, however, have a strong work ethic, and that’s where things are going to get really ugly in The Banana Republic of America (formerly Les Etas Unis). Inevitably, the neo-poor will put that energy to use in the BRA’s growth industries of the future: drug trafficking, carjacking, murder for hire, kidnapping for ransom, violent home invasions. You know, all the fun things that the poor do to make ends meet in the shantytowns and barrios of Caracas, Venezuela, the government yards of Trenchtown, Jah-Maica (yah mon….downpressor naw take di collee weed), the nasty streets of Hillbrow (a.k.a. Hellbrow) in Johannesburg, Tepito en la Ciudad de México, las zonas peligrosas de la Ciudad de Guatemala, or parts of southern Bogotá.
“Villains prosper while the rest are fired, foreclosed, and foreordained to suffer for the sins of their rulers.”—Justin Raimondo
“Far too few have much too much, and way too many have much too little. So when the money stops flowing down to the man on the street, the blood starts flowing in the streets.”—Gerald Celente
Yes, and flow it will………like the Amazon River. The neo-poor and the neo-desperate will conclude that if they don’t have food stamps and food pantries to turn to, they can be proactive and create jobs for themselves with guns, knives and razorblades. Most of the poor in Third World countries aren’t lazy, but they are desperate—and when the going gets tough, the desperate do desperate things. Just ask anyone who has ever been kidnapped in Port Moresby and lived to talk about it.
So get ready for a very violent and bloody future in The Banana Republic of America, where the poor and the desperate will feed themselves with bullets and painfully sharp, deadly objects. God help us.
Big deal. Cell phones and food to the needy. Not worth mentioning when the government gives trillions of dollars in money and our resources to corporations and banks. Sounds like the kind of trading they did when we stole America from the Indians. They take trillions from us and give us back peanuts like cell phones – but no jobs. This is the kind nonsense that divides us while our country burns down. You can either help the needy, fight them or kill them. You may be one them sooner then you think. I hope you choose wise.
FIGHT THE CAUSE – NOT THE SYMPTOM
Read “Common Sense 3.1” at ( http://www.revolution2.osixs.org )
We don’t have to live like this. (choose wisely)
I agreed with everything you said! I’m poor class and i afford to buy a cell phone and a computer with our OWN money! There is also why I refused to go to college because of loans that was from federal government. My mom and I are on SSI and have no job. Because my mom have an illness and unable to go to work. And I have SSI but I dont want to get a job because I lost my faith in US economy. If I want a job then i will have to cut my SSI income off to replace it with new job income. But I don’t want to risk that. Last 2 years ago I went to DVR to help seeking for a job and I been found like 100 jobs and send my rusme(misspelled) and nothing of them are hiring me. I lost my faith in DVR and decided I going to stay on SSI for now.
I using my SSI to pay cell phone and it’s bills. I agreed with you that you guys can providing poor class people like me to help with such a foods, tools, etc etc.
Plus this is my 2nd time comment and I enjoyed your article the most. I’m deaf that lives in Washington state
Keep up Michael good work!!
You will want to be very careful about being dependent on the Gov. for anything. As more and more people jump on the “net” – as Michael says – the more likely it will “break”. You will not want to be reliant on any program at that point because you will be endangering your very existence.
Oh okay thank for warning me about that one.
Everybody should sign up for one! Tax the bloated billionaires into paying for cell phones for the poor chinamart workers!
Though, if they paid living wages maybe the poverty would start to go away and workers could pay their own way through life.
Yep! About two weeks ago my wife gave me the mail and was laughing as she did so. She knew what was in it, and new when I saw it I would hit the roof. There was a mailing from a cell provider saying if I was on welfare (and seveal other qualifiers) I was eligible for a free cell phone and 200 mins a month.
I am still steamed……..
Can the ” poor ” not even afford the new Magic Jack Plus phone service?! It’s cost less than $2 Bucks a month! If they have Cable TV – which many ” poor ” folks have – they likely have a ” router ” . That’s all that’s required for the new Magic Jack Plus ( MJP )! I KNOW this because I recently investigated MJP; as a means of giving AT&T the ” boot “; for ripping me off every month! Then I wouldn’t have to pay all the ” fees ” and charges the ” government ” levies on ME!
BTW, now at age 62, I’ve NEVER owned a cell phone! NEVER will either! Billions of people … BEFORE the invention of the cell SOMEHOW survived WITHOUT one! Besides, ” cells ” reportedly cause brain cancer!
Golden Child, I enjoyed reading your post. It made me think of this 70′s song by the Spinners:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8cFaVKMaKM But this was was written when there was a still a lot of hope of escaping ghetto conditions. That hope doesn’t exist near as much now.
And actually manufacturing in the U.S. peaked in 1979. Baltimore has always had a bad red light section right next to the Inner Harbor area. But both Detroit and Baltimre took a big fall due in large part to being run by black leaders who depended way too much on the local, state and federal government.
You’re right that American companies would now rather hire Mexicans and Asians for $7/hour, and they don’t want to hire whites that were born in America–we might actually complain about the working conditions and wages. Recent arrival immigrants wont–especially Asians.
I’m 55, and I’m proud to say I’ve never owned a cell phone in my life. I’m part of the 15% that have never had one. But, I do agree with other posters that it would be extremely difficult to get a job without a phone and especially in this economy. You would have to know somebody to get a job.
My comments about Michael’s article are that living on the government dole is still just a survival life at best. For example, some people say guys pandhandling on the corner make hundreds per week. Really, they don’t, but even if they did does anybody want to trade places with them? It is such a degrading and diffcult way to survive. And it is survival–not living. Yes, there is a huge amount of abuse of this welfare system by people that are able to work. It should only be for people that have physical or mental disabilities. Also, no politician has the guts to say that black fathers should stop abandoning their significant other and their 4 children. 72% of black children are born illigetimate which is astonishing. And consider this, if our new policiy was now that the 30 or 40 million on welfare have to go out and get a job to qualify, that will mean overnight there are 55 to 65 million people unemployed looking for jobs. How do you think that is going to work in our currently economy? Heck, most employers don’t want to hire Americans to begin with. How persuaded are they going to be to hire folks that have been on welfare for 12 or 15 years? I just can’t see a political solution to this. We are trapped now, and there is now easy way out.
About the guy with the EBT card. Man I think that guy in the video is going to go thorugh his $200 in one day! That’s the max a single guy can get. You can’t buy paper products with it though or tobacco products.
There is a store that recently opened in Ft. Worth, TX called Joseph Storehouse. The deals in there are amazing. Examples:
$4.50 jar of Hellman’s Mayonnaise is just $1.00
$4.89 box of Lorna Doone cookies is just $1.00
$1.50 can of Del Monte peaches is just 50 cents
$1.10 box of milk duds is just 25 cents
Soon, they will be able to take the EBT card. Check them out on the internet to see if there is one near you. They are some qualifiers. They don’t want folks earning 75K/year to go in there and clean them out.
Tis simple, people are on it because the other options equal survival as well. Worse than EBT survival, you gonna tell me climbing an economic ladder still exists? Then your as stupid as a late night infomercial- thats what the american dremas become. This aint disney inc anymore.
Somebody’s palm is getting greased by the cellphone companies. Cuz ya know, MagicJack is $19.95 per year retail.
Oh, umm, I’m so upset . . . I just have a hard time getting too upset about this when 1,000 times the money were talking about here is flushed every day down the financial black hole our financial “industry” has created. Oh, right, rich people benefit rather than poor folks so it’s OK. Damn no good welfare cheats, let them die and decrease the surplus population.
Bread and circus keep up docile.
Newsflash TEC readers…
The phones are for tracking tracing and tapping nothing more… its well worth their wile to put the poor “ON the Grid”
Are you related to Ayn Rand? You Paul-tards, are crazy! Oh yeah, Obama was born in America; America isn’t greece; and the majority of people on foodstamps, are whites! BTW, the world isn’t going to end.
I been wondering that myself. Also, Ron Paul named his son after Ayn Rand and I always wonder how people who claim that they against government voted one in the senate and actually voted to impose sanction on Iran?
The lifeline program provides free basic landline service to low income people. The cell phone service is a modern lifeline program giving one the choice of either a landline or cell phone but not both. And it is not just welfare recipients BUT low income persons.
These programs help people to become more self-sufficient, make their doctors’ appointments, have access to 911 and so on.
I am a BIG fan of this website, but the only thing OUTRAGEOUS is you saying that it is OUTRAGEOUS. It is not.
I am very conservative, but I also have a heart and there is nothing wrong with helping people.
Exactly, and if any of you have the balls to watch I Survived on BIO TV without flinching you would know alot of people benifit from cellphone use especially women. Even men, it helps when your in a trunk being taken to your death to be able to dial 911. Or give you son a cell phone so hes not kidnapped and tortured on the way to school. But by the sounds of some of you people, you probably would like that.
Also when and if you watch remember statistically how many did not make it because they were too poor or too egotistical to have a cell phone. How many of you im proud to not have a cellphone generation, dissapeared because you only had a land line when taken from there home. Well u only watch faux news.
There are some logical reasons to give phone discounts to people on welfare. The first is that generally the people getting the free minutes of talk time will also be paying at lest something for the phone, and often will be paying for extra minutes on a regular basis. That means the networks get more business, whereas otherwise these people probably would not have a phone at all and the networks get no business out of them. Essentially, it’s more of a welfare handout to the phone companies, than to the poor people.
What’s more if networks have to put towers into a poor neighbourhood just to get coverage, and maybe those towers are used at 10% capacity, the other 90% capacity sits wasted. If the welfare phones maybe push that usage up to 50% capacity then the marginal cost to the network provider is very close to zero, and now that network provider gets revenue in the door and pays corporate tax on the revenue… goes back to the government anyhow.
The other thing is that you want poor people to get jobs wherever they can. Last time I did part-time labouring jobs (yeah even smart people end up needing to do that crap from time to time) the labour agencies expect to be able to call you up at short notice, so they think you will just sit by the phone all the time. A mobile makes a lot more sense, because I might be on the train to another job interview (or whatever) and I want to be able to answer the phone and say, “Yeah I can work tomorrow.” If I don’t answer they never ring back, they just ring someone else.
As others have pointed out, some poor people move house a lot, and you can’t actually get a landline at all unless you have a solid lease (if you are just casually renting a room, or sleeping on a friend’s couch, they really frown on you), and if you buy a prepaid mobile and you are pretty careful about using it frugally, it actually costs less than a landline. At least people can call you that way.
The other argument is that if you just hand poor people cash payouts, they either blow the money on drugs, alcohol, gambling, or whatever… or else someone stands over them and makes them pay up. Better to give direct material charity than monetary payments where possible.
I don’t like the idea of huge number of people on welfare any more than the next guy does. I agree it’s a sign of deep economic problems, but if you are going to give welfare, making it as targeted as possible is the smart thing to do.
How else are they going to contact their crack dealer….WALK to their house? Free cab and bus rides as well…ah hell, let’s buy them new cars too!
look at http://www.benefits.gov/
all freebees can be found there, one stop leeching
when will the working people stand up against these people taking our tax money and giving it to people that wont get off there dead ass and get a job
have you been paying attention AT ALL???
Well you don’t have to go and get all huffy about it!!!
We’re doomed. There’s even a website devoted to this free government cell phone scam:
FreeGovernmentCellPhones.net
Prepaid cell phones are very affordable now, I got one at walmart for 10 bucks. That is less costly than a landline phone and does not require installation. This is good for people who may move more often, saves on a lot of costs. A phone is a necessity that everyone can understand. Public pay phones are becoming hard to find. I do not see a problem with this. Yes, there may be a few welfare cheats taking advantage, but you don’t make policy based on the exceptions.
I agree with Michael on this one. Cell phones are not a necessity but our society has bought into the marketing propaganda and believes they are. We have survived and manged to raise three kids without cell phones. Our land line is the Magic Jack voice over internet. No t.v. service but we do stream Netflix. Before that my parents did not have cell phones but managed to get jobs and raise a family. And yes they were well below the poverty line but are now middle class retirees.
Just because you have survived? I dont know ur struggle but if you aint lived in the hood it aint much, so you a case, you think yours is everyone elses its not. Talk to some corerners, thell will tell you how many could have been saved from a painful death had they been able to call 911 or justice served by mAking a call and dying anyway. Because at least the police could be in the vicinty of the wearabouts of the victim.
Just because u have “survived”
Stop ur navel gazing and look around. Its hard living in these areas and only gonna get worse.
Look up The Anti- Counterferting Trade Agreement, Also a video on youtube United Nations Small Arms Gun Confiscation Treaty to be Ratified by the US Senate in 2012.
“So what is essentially happening is the federal government is taking money from all of us so that they can provide free cell phone service for welfare recipients every single month.”
This is the moral hazard of allowing Communitarians and the governments that they form to grant some people “Positive” rights.
“What Is The Polarity Of Your Rights?”
http://www.olgreyghost.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-is-polarity-of-your-rights.html
Of course, to Communitarians, stealing isn’t evil if it’s legal.
“It Ain’t Evil If It’s Legal”
http://www.olgreyghost.blogspot.com/2009/08/it-aint-evil-if-its-legal.html
This is what Bastiat referred to as “lawful plunder.” He was being very polite at the time…
C’mon Gary. I have PLENTY more FACTS ready at hand to beat down your meth induced utopian dreams of your Fuhrer.
The TV airwaves are blanketed by ads for these free government cellphones here in Michigan.
“Now dat I got my free gubment cellphone I can call and stuff”
Yep, that’s the role of government: making sure everybody has access to cellphones. Why not free government computers, free government internet access, free cars, free cable TV–all of which are “necessities” in this day and age and all of which the poor are deprived of!
(I’m being sarcastic)
The Lifeline program has been around for quite a long time. AT&T started it back in the 90′s. It was a discount program for home phone service for low-income families. I myself had this service when my children were young and I was a single parent. It helped tremendously, as one of my sons has cerebral palsy and asthsma.
Stay on welfare long enough, and you might even qualify for a free iPad! Dang! Why am I not on welfare, so I can scoop up some of these free bennies?!
[in Borat-type voice] “Whadd a COUNTRYYY!!”
These people (most of them) don’t realize that many cell phones are perfect tracking devices, with GPS, Facebook capability, etc. Someone with the right knowledge could easily tell where you’ve been. “Ah yes. At 10:30am you were at the Shell gas station, 10:45am, McDonald’s, 11:30am, Victoria’s Secret, HEY! What were you doing at Victoria’s Secret?! You’re a single male! It says so in your Facebook profile!”…
(btw… wonder if those free government phones are those little prepaid “Tracfone” things sold at Wal-Mart. Tracfone… the name says it all.)
Hey id say the tracking is perfect for white on minority rape/ homicide frames
Cant send a minority up the river twente fiave yers for something he didnt do- if his cell phone prooves he wasnt in the vicinity…
It’s enough to make me lose my lunch, if you know what I mean. But since I haven’t had lunch yet, I have nothing to lose….
Just another example of your tax dollars hard at work! (ugh!)
Personally, I can’t afford a cell phone but I have no problem with giving the poor a phone. In this day and age, you need a to phone to call a doctor, speak to utility companies, check with relatives, look for work, etc.
All this screaming about phone discounts for the poor and elderly is crap. Why don’t you pay more attention to the multi-national corporations that pay no federal income taxes? Why don’t you care about corporations running our democracy? Although at this rate, we’re a fascist country now….
Powerful corporations socialize their risks and costs, but privatize profits. That means we, the 99 percent, pick up the tab for environmental clean ups, for helping workers who aren’t paid enough to afford food or health care, for bailouts when risky speculation goes wrong. Meanwhile, profits go straight into the pockets of top executives and others in the 1 percent.
Michael-this is way more important than worrying about cell phones for the poor. Stop bashing the poor. You need to focus on the real welfare and not throw red meat to the libertarian and conservatives all the time.
The first paragraph of this post is a copy/paste from an article written by Sarah van Gelder for Yes! magazine titled “7 Signs the Corporatocracy is Losing its Legitimacy–and 7 Tools to Help Shut it Down”
http://www.yesmagazine.org/blogs/sarah-van-gelder/corporate-rule-is-not-inevitable
I’m not ragging on you Gary, but I believe in giving credit where credit is due.
Thanks for calling me out. I was getting steamed by Michael’s poor people bashing that I did not credit the source. Sorry!
Corporations have stockholders who have invested and deserve the rewards of the products they produce…But we agree NO bailouts ever…If the corp goes bankrupt..C’est La Vie…
LOL I commented on this a few months ago. Now I know it was for real! My stepmom used to work for the phone company and youre right it’s called the Universal Access Charge. Now you know what that hidden fee is! I dont understand why low income folks just dont get a prepaid cell phone. Thats what I use. The phones usually only cost around ten to twenty bucks and the airtime cards are affordable. Net 10 has a card for $25 that gives you 750 minutes. Im sure if some of these recipients gave up their beer or weed fund they could buy their own phone and not have to get an Uncle Barry phone. To me this seems like another bribe to get people to vote for him.
And we all know prepaids never come with tricks and schemes to put poor people into further debt. As a matter of fact everthang in america stays the same- just get on down ther boay get yoself a prepaid..
While this article will most likely lure readers to get angry about poor people using cell phones paid with America’s tax dollars, perhaps they can use this thought-provoking piece to also reflect on the cultural symbolism of the cell phone, and what it has done to us as a whole. Then we could postulate further as to why human beings are addicted not only to cell phones, but to all sorts of electronic devices, like Kindle, all those netbooks, and IPADS. Excuse me if I get the names wrong, as I’m not familiar with most of these gadgets. America in particular has an extreme addiction to anything that bespeaks convenience. Perhaps we need to look inside ourselves, regardless of where we’re from, to see that we have become hollow, empty shells of humanity, who only know addictions to their cell phones or else sports, tv, mainstream news, pornography, or other recreation, like drugs and alcohol. Instead of using this article to point fingers at the poor, I instead saw it as an opportunity to question what we have become as a whole, regardless of nationality. All we know is survival and entertainment, but even then, we know very little about true survival, and our entertainment is pure garbage.
I’m thankful to have a job, but more and more I feel like I’m in an uphill battle against my Gov…like I lost a bet or something.
Have to disagree on this one. In my personal experience with friends, the people I know who have a subsidized phone don’t have a land line, or even a home to put one in. That cell phone is their only phone. As far as the minutes go, maybe that is excessive. I saw a lot of the homeless people I worked with start getting day labor and even permanent full time jobs when the county started a program that gave them a permanent address for their mail and a phone number with voice mail. It leveled the playing field for employers who wouldn’t even consider someone homeless despite their skills and enthusiasm for work.
I’m not on either program, and I agree no one should be subsidized to sit around and talk or surf. But I’m looking for a second job and ALL the employers I’ve applied to ask for email. Often you can only apply online, they don’t even take phone calls or visits anymore. If the low-cost computer seems excessive, maybe we could just help people get library cards and show them how to get a Hotmail or other free account they can use when the library is open. They let you go online for 30 minutes at a time.
I’m not going to ask someone to climb out of poverty and then begrudge them the equivalent of a rope or a ladder. It makes way more sense than giving disability payments to chronic addicts and alcoholics, maybe we could move the funds from there.
Thanks rain hopefully people will read the comments for a balanced view. I know i always do….
I’m not a supporter of welfare abuse, but I’d have to DISAGREE with you on this article. I believe the reason the government is giving out these free cell phones (and I have a friend on SSI / disability who has one) is so that low-income women can report crimes, stay safe/in touch with relatives/report abusive boyfriends, and also have a # emplolyers can call them back at if and when they job hunt. If you’re looking for a job, it’s virtually impossible to do so without a phone # without appearing homeless, which makes employers suspect. Also, most welfare reciepients live in “the hood” ghettoes or dangerous areas, and more cell phones means more people calling 911 in emergencies, etc. Think about it, after Hurricane Katrina and such, don’t you think it’s important everyone has a cell phone so FEMA messages can get out if need be and people can keep track of each other better?
I don’t believe this “costs” the gov’t much, as cell phone minutes aren’t a tangible thing like food or shelter.
I heard about this a year or two ago. 25% of Americans are now getting SOME form of welfare.
In Georgia, 3 out of 5 babies are medicaid babies. 60%!!!! I’ll bet the rest of the states are similar.
We are doomed with numbers like that.
Idiocracy.
Programs like this would be great for the truly needy. It would be awesome to be able to give out a cell phone number on a job application. The problem is, at least 90% of the recipients of this program are people who don’t want to work in the first place.
Correction 90 dont want to be wage slaves….
A decent living wage please before everyone starts harping about jobs jobs jobs work work work…
And the company owner is? Sorpresa…………
Those readers who seem to think this program is okay because it (supposedly) helps the poor are suffering from “Government Issued Morality.”
http://www.olgreyghost.blogspot.com/2009/07/government-issued-morality.html
And yes, Gary2, government programs that give money to big corporations are also bad. Programs like this one about the phones are used to funnel that money to big corporations while making our benevolent government officials look charitable with other people’s money.
Learn to always ask the question, “Cui Bono?”
Amerikans vote for three things and three things only every election cycle:
1. Warfare State
2. Police State
3. Welfare State
Any politician who campaigns on significantly scaling back or flat out eliminating any of these pillars of decadent society is deemed unelectable in the eyes of the braindead amerikan masses. You may not like it but all evidence clearly supports the fact that this is the current reality (not the Karl Rove version) on the ground in amerika.
What is required is massive social change in amerika and around the world. People have to stand for a way of life that is both honorable and noble, something that all people can be proud of and want to pass on to succeeding generations. And until that time comes, all you will ocntinue to see are articles like these day in and day out………….
If a person on disability has a seizure while they are out… dont you think it may be a good idea for them to have a lifeline?.
New Zealand is quickly becoming like self interested america… where the only glory to be had there is the praise one heaps upon oneself and the cries of unfair… unfair from the Rednecks.
Really, with you guys as world leaders I can see why most of us want to take a pass on dealing with you.
Supposedly you guys are religious… but I dont see anywhere in the bible where self interest and self involvement to such a degree is going to get you anywhere but a one way ticket in the opposite direction.
Say its an eplileptic laying in the pavement and they have hurt themselves… I would say a cell phone is an essential item at certain times..
But I forget how much christian charity the rest of us around the world witness in America… its abysmal… homelessness and Wealthy industrialists paying less tax than their servants.
What republicans generally want from what I know of is people being euthanised rather than the state caring for them in any way… and the care provided is stone age, medical care is thrid world there for the poor as it is here in New Zealand.
Governments across the world still use descrimination in legislation because they are too inept to come up with new innovative thinking even when we live in a supposedly evolved world.
The first thing that happens in America is the state abandoning its most needy.
Some example you people are… I mean really Bravo (sarcasm for the republican dimwits out there).
Damn pawened a one way ticket in the wrong direction lol damn thank you… Kiwi so giving thy brother thy sister, thy neighbor. But not thy black neighbor nor thy poor neighbor nor thy drug addicted neighbor nor thy lost soul neighbor nor thy have sinned neighbor.
But its sunday lest rejoice!
Mr. EBT was interviewed by Lauren Lyster of the RT Network, he’s a celebrity now.
Mr EBT talks food stamp rap
http://youtu.be/blwIiuG4T_Y
Americans continue to struggle just to make ends meet. Yet there are artists who are trying to give a more positive spin on what some might say are dire times for the USA. Mr. Ebt and Money Maine, two hip-hop artists, are joining RT’s Lauren Lyster from New York for more.
I’m up in the air about the cell phone programs as I can see both sides. I am concerned about the subsides that are given to the buyers of electric cars. I and my husband both work full time. We can not afford an electric car. The cost to build an electric car is much higher than the sale price and we the taxpayers are picking up the rest of that bill. I don’t see why we should pay for someone else buying that kind of an item.
After reading some of the comments on here I find it amusing, and a little sad, that there is a mentality out there that believes having a cell-phone is a basic human right. We can make the case all day about the need for a phone to get a job, but let’s be realistic. Anyone SERIOUS about a potential job that requires a formal interview and multiple correspondence is going to have either a land-line or a cell to begin with. If you are at the point of not even being able to afford a $10 phone and a $20/month phone card and are serious about work, you better have yourself at your local DVR/employment assistance office where not having a cell/internet is not an issue.
We have become a nation of excuses, not solutions. I overheard an interview at a local fast-food restaurant the other day and was ASTOUNDED at what I heard. The young interviewee was telling the manager that they couldn’t work weekends, couldn’t work after 7pm, Tuesday mornings were out of the question due to tavern pool-league on Monday nights and when asked if hired, when would they be available to start, the interviewee told the manager they would have to get back to them. Seriously?! Whenever I was asked in an interview when I could start a job, my reply was always “I’m here, aren’t I?” The sad truth is, most people really DON’T WANT TO WORK. I know we have a serious employment problem in this country, but those with true work ethic don’t have a problem finding work, even if it’s menial. Life isn’t fair, but it’s up to you if you’d rather sit around and COMPLAIN about it or pull yourself up by the bootstraps and DO something about it…..