Should Poor People Get Free Cell Phones?

[PeacePlan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpU5OBvAp60

[TCE]

Re-assuring responses on the whole. Gives me hope.

[TheViper]

Life, liberty, cell phones and the pursuit of happiness.

I'm having a very hard time finding this line in the DoI or Constitution.

[TCE]

Life, liberty, cell phones and the pursuit of happiness.

I'm having a very hard time finding this line in the DoI or Constitution.

General Welfare Clause, obviously. If not, then the Interstate Commerce Clause. The ICC lets the federal government do anything and everything it wants, remember?

[Fox McCloud]

The program is called "Safelink"...it's not a government program, per se...as a matter of fact it was the cellphone companies who created it, AFAIK...basically they pointed out, to the government, that the USF program wasn't as useful as it regularly was since less and less people are using landlines...so they got permission to create the program which uses out of the USF.

In either case, I don't like it...but the problem isn't the program itself--the problem is the USF...if you kill off the program, the USF still exist...the next decrease in government contributions doesn't change one bit...because...well, there's still the USF. If you really want to axe the program (and save money on cell and telco service) you have to axe the USF.

I'd also like to point out, it's an almost complete and total cop out to say it's "helpeful in emergencies". Why? 911 works on any cellphone in the US and any landline, regardless whether or not you have service...that's an entirely separate fee that everyone pays into....so, I suppose you could drum up something that they "need" a free cellphone, but definitely not minutes.

[Don Lapre]

Should Poor People Get Free Cell Phones?





Of course.

And free blowjobs, too.

[DamianTV]

Life, liberty, cell phones and the pursuit of happiness.

I'm having a very hard time finding this line in the DoI or Constitution.

If we had a Truly Free Market, poor people could afford cell phones.

[Vessol]

Topic name should be changed to:

Should violence be used to forcefully extort funds from peaceful individuals to pay for a program that gives subsidized cell phones to poor people?

[AZKing]

Well, it's a good thing that I don't have a cell phone.

[Diurdi]

If we had a Truly Free Market, poor people could afford cell phones. To be honest, it's not very hard to afford a cellphone in todays world. The cheapest models are almost free.

[Carehn]

any more these days Im starting to wish I was poor.

[Krugerrand]

any more these days Im starting to wish I was poor.

You have to be patient. Give the government time to work its plan ... and you will be.

[AlexAmore]

Only if they're the Iphone 4s. We don't need poor people walking around with phone inequality. Similar to the minimum wage...all or nothing. amirite?

[Aden]

Well, it's a good thing that I don't have a cell phone.

Yeah. Why would I want my tax dollars paying for somebody else to have a cell phone when I choose to forgo the luxury myself? Anyways, nobody is too poor to pay for cheap cell service (IE Tracphones and prepaid). The reason I know this is because EVERYONE manages to drum up money to pay for their stupid TV bill. Ditch the TV and buy the phone if you are that poor.

[Krugerrand]

Yeah. Why would I want my tax dollars paying for somebody else to have a cell phone when I choose to forgo the luxury myself? Anyways, nobody is too poor to pay for cheap cell service (IE Tracphones and prepaid). The reason I know this is because EVERYONE manages to drum up money to pay for their stupid TV bill. Ditch the TV and buy the phone if you are that poor.

My wife is on a pre-paid plan from Verizon. (which in my parts is the best of the carriers) $100/year. With taxes, that's still less than $9.00/month.