View Full Version : Cell Phones for Welfare.. Text Messages too!
Pants
01-19-2010, 12:47 AM
Welfare recipients in approximately 20 states–with more to follow– are currently eligible to receive a free cell phone with a limited number of monthly minutes. All individuals that qualify for state or federal welfare–food stamps, Medicaid, etc.–and have an income at or below 135% of the poverty level, are eligible. According to a Fox News report, the cell phone service is currently the fastest growing welfare program in the country.
In 2008, the fund that foots the bill for this program contributed $819 million to subsidize low-income telephone services. The fund is projected to grow to over $1 billion this year. That’s $1 billion of over $800 billion the United States will spend on welfare in 2010.
This particular program is covered by the federal Universal Service Fund. At first it received its money by essentially taxing telephone companies that provided long-distance service, with the money then being used to provide affordable rates for those living in less densely populated areas where phone service was more costly. However, in 1996, Congress voted to extend the use of this fund to subsidize low-income households and subsequently expanded the list of those required to pay into the fund to include: local telephone companies, wireless companies, paging services, and payphone providers. (Naturally, the cost for this fund is passed to the customer.) In 2008, the Federal Communications Commission began subsidizing cell phones for low-income households.
Besides the $1 billion price tag, which is likely to increase as more states implement the service, not to mention the concern for growing entitlement created by this program, cell phone recipients are loosely monitored. According to Heritage welfare expert Robert Rector, this means that if an individual’s income increases to where he or she is no longer eligible for the service, there is no one to make sure he or she stops receiving it.
Jose A. Fuentes, director of Government Relations for TracFone–one of the providers of the free phone service–says that the phones are not meant “for heavy usage.” Instead, they are meant “for quick phone calls, as well as a way for people to reach you in case of…emergency or for calls from a potential employer,” not meant to replace a landline. This idea indicates that not only should government subsidize phone service, but that as SafeLink, one of the providers of the cell phones, states, “cell phone ownership is a right.”
This is just another example of the ever-expanding welfare state and the increasing entitlement mentality. At the very least, policymakers should require greater monitoring of the program to prevent misuse. Furthermore, if the purpose of the cell phones is truly to give lower-income people more access to potential employers, participants should be required to account for their job search activities. A welfare program that does not require personal responsibility will only encourage dependency and diminish human dignity.
Kludge
01-19-2010, 12:57 AM
I have family who takes advantage of this and just about every other welfare program imaginable (the only libertarians in the family, too).
... They apparently aren´t using it for its intended use.
Fox McCloud
01-19-2010, 01:24 AM
http://mises.org/daily/3822
interesting article that ties into this.
If I'm interpreting this correctly, it effectively means that you really don't start making that much more (provided you take part in all the government benefits you can) until you make over $40,000...which pretty much provides zero incentive to better yourself if you fall within that income range.
by the by, Kludge, that's the creepiest avatar I've ever seen on this forums.
Dieseler
01-19-2010, 01:27 AM
Now all we need is cable tv and internet,
TheEvilDetector
01-19-2010, 04:46 AM
I don't understand the federal government at all, why are they so shy about making everyone rich?
Why not put every american on a $100,000 yearly salary with extra benefits including car, house, annual holidays, etc etc
I mean just print the cash you need and everyone will live well. Also throw in free food and clothing too.
These socialists are clearly not social enough, we need real socialists (not these pretenders), who know how to print the cash needed to make everyone rich and equal and happy.
Just print the money, you don't need to work, all you need to make is pieces of paper with numbers on them.
Valene
01-19-2010, 06:58 AM
LIFELINE/SAFELINK FACT SHEET
There is no "Obama phone" or other newly created federal program to provide free cell phones. As you may know, this is a myth that is now circulating on the Web via email and blog sites. It has been thoroughly debunked by independent groups. (See for example: FactCheck.org at http://www.factcheck.org/2009/10/the-obama-phone/, which notes: "Low-income households have been eligible for discounted telephone service for more than a decade. But the program is funded by telecom companies, not by taxes, and the president has nothing to do with it."
The federal "Lifeline" program was created during the Reagan Administration. Lifeline is a federal program created by the Reagan era Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1984. The program was enhanced under Telecommunications Act of 1996, which was supported on a broadly bipartisan basis in Congress. The FCC’s Low Income Program of the Universal Service Fund, which is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), is designed to ensure that quality telecommunications services are available to low-income customers at just, reasonable, and affordable rates. Lifeline support reduces eligible low-income consumers' monthly charges for basic telephone service.
Thanks to SafeLink, Lifeline support is now available for wireless phones. Traditionally, the Lifeline program was only available as a discount on a consumer’s landline telephone bill. SafeLink Wireless was created by TracFone Wireless, Inc. when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently approved the company to offer Lifeline -- a public assistance program that ensures telephone service is available and affordable for low-income subscribers. SafeLink Wireless applies the Universal Service Fund subsidy to an allotment of free airtime minutes and TracFone provides the wireless handset at the company’s expense. Instead of receiving a subsidized monthly telephone bill for Lifeline service, SafeLink converts the total amount of discounted service into minutes each month for one year. The cell phone offers in-demand features: voicemail, text, three-way calling, call waiting, caller ID and access to 911.
SafeLink phones are not paid for by taxpayers or the federal government. TracFone Wireless pays for the phones and also the cost of promoting its SafeLink program to make sure that eligible consumers know about the program.
SafeLink Wireless is making the vision of universal access to telecommunications services for all Americans a reality. As of October 2009, SafeLink has over 2 million customers and is available in 19 states - Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin - and the District of Columbia. Today, there are over 1,700 companies in the United States currently providing discounted telephone service. But, thanks to its extensive outreach promoting SafeLink, TracFone Wireless is one of the largest providers of Lifeline services in the United States, second only to AT&T.
Only certain Americans are eligible for SafeLink. Eligibility guidelines vary by state but in general individuals qualify if they participate in a public assistance program such as Food Stamps, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), National Free School Lunch, Federal Housing/Section 8 Assistance, or if they do not receive any of these public assistance programs, they may also qualify based on total household gross monthly income. Customers can learn more or apply by calling 1-800-SAFELINK or visiting www.SafeLink.com
Your exact benefits, including the number of free Minutes you will receive, depend on the state you live in.
Travlyr
01-19-2010, 07:35 AM
I don't understand the federal government at all, why are they so shy about making everyone rich?
Why not put every american on a $100,000 yearly salary with extra benefits including car, house, annual holidays, etc etc
I mean just print the cash you need and everyone will live well. Also throw in free food and clothing too.
These socialists are clearly not social enough, we need real socialists (not these pretenders), who know how to print the cash needed to make everyone rich and equal and happy.
Just print the money, you don't need to work, all you need to make is pieces of paper with numbers on them.
Right! This is what gets me: They can print all the money they want, yet they tax me. Assholes.
angelatc
01-19-2010, 07:38 AM
Am I reading this wrong? It seems like a lot of government double-talk.
But the program is funded by telecom companies, not by taxes.... followed a little later by :
The FCC’s Low Income Program of the Universal Service Fund, ( are the people there all volunteers?)
and finally
SafeLink Wireless applies the Universal Service Fund subsidy Subsidy? So the phone companies are paying for it, but it's subsidized? And I suppose the USF if funded with a fee, not a tax.
Pathetic. This just drives the prices up for the working class. Nobody should be entitled to a cheap phone, which is exactly the principle that the whole FCC program promotes.
angelatc
01-19-2010, 07:50 AM
Right! This is what gets me: They can print all the money they want, yet they tax me. Assholes.
There's actually a case to be made there, in Keynesian theory, for abolishing the income tax and using the expansion of the money supply to fund everything.
I didn't say it was a good idea - I said it was Keynesian - but if you want to make a case for abolishing the income tax without getting into Austrian Economic theory, there ya go.
ChaosControl
01-19-2010, 08:21 AM
Once again it isn't really a program that will help anyone advance and it is also discriminatory in favor of only the ultra poor, the lower middle class or those just shy of the middle class will once again fall between the cracks.
Cinderella
01-19-2010, 08:29 AM
or maybe its a tracking program?
MelissaWV
01-19-2010, 08:35 AM
This really has been around for a long time in other forms. I doubt it's any more of a tracking program than it ever was. Have you priced out cellphone plans versus landline plans? It's cheaper to go with the former at this point.
Having said all that, I STILL think it's part of the massive incentive to sit on one's ass and do little/nothing.
Pants
01-19-2010, 08:41 AM
For what its worth, I just ordered to disconnect my home phone last night. I got tired of paying for the Universal Service fee along with several other taxes totaling $14.35 per month plus about 10% sales tax on service. Even if I cut down to a basic phone line for $10.50 per month, I still pay an additional $14.50 in taxes and fees. I can't justify paying $30.00 a month for something I hardly ever use. The main decision to cut the phone out was when our Governor decided to add another 75 cent tax per line so the entire state can have enhanced 911.. But they have forgotten 7 years ago the state added 80 cents to one of the fees so schools can have broadband and every dispatch center can have E911.. So where did that money go?
No its not a myth.. Our state has a welfare cell phone program. The program is buying an awful lot of TV and Radio ads lately promoting it. Someone on welfare might miss a call from an employer? The people I know who are taking benefits are not actively seeking employment, and have stopped looking. I think my wife and I are better off getting laid off and collecting these benefits. And while I am at it, I can divorce my wife but still live together so we can collect more. I can finally finish my college degree and not pay a cent for it. Get food stamps, state run health insurance, commodities, heating and energy assistance, free school lunch for my kids, housing assistance, free phone, free YMCA Memberships, WIC. At least I won't need to work my butt off, not have to worry where our next meal is going to come from, if I get sick what my co-pay will be, getting screwed over by my heath insurance and have to fight for every penny, or if I have a job tomorrow. I can also get my pets spayed and neutered free of charge and get them caught up with shots.. If your not getting paid $40,000 a year from your employer why bother working?
Skype has no fees and I just wired every phone in the house to it..
Pants
01-19-2010, 08:50 AM
oops I accidentally made a double post
jmdrake
01-19-2010, 09:18 AM
or maybe its a tracking program?
Exactly! That and corporate welfare for "SafeLink". There's already a thriving cell phone market in the "hood" and some of the more popular phones are not trackable. This is a good way to entice more people onto the "cyber reservation" and give a monopoly to some big government donor at the same time.
Fox McCloud
01-19-2010, 12:16 PM
Am I reading this wrong? It seems like a lot of government double-talk.
followed a little later by : ( are the people there all volunteers?)
and finally Subsidy? So the phone companies are paying for it, but it's subsidized? And I suppose the USF if funded with a fee, not a tax.
Pathetic. This just drives the prices up for the working class. Nobody should be entitled to a cheap phone, which is exactly the principle that the whole FCC program promotes.
yeah, it's double-speak at its finest; the USF is not voluntary--this program may be voluntary, but this service fee most definitely is not voluntary.
Heck, safelink's own website acknowledges that it's government supported: https://www.safelinkwireless.com/EnrollmentPublic/home.aspx
So the article is very dishonest when it says it's not payed for by taxpayers.
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