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It all started with the Tel-Com Co's. lobbying to begin removing "hard wired" phones over a long time span. (no future upkeep of existing infrastructure, poles, wires, etc.)
We are not there yet, but we are also not that far away either. But if some politician can capitalize on it, they most certainly will.
IIRC, that program to provide rural America with phone service has been in use for most of my adult life.
Like much of the "welfare" programs, these were the results of companies wanting business. Big companies want in on the free money. I don't think individuals on SNAP could get the government to allow fast food purchases with food stamps, but McDonald's and Taco Bell can. One of the biggest boosters of expanding food stamps is Walmart.
[Edit: I need to post faster. I started a reply, then did something else for a few hours before finishing, and most of this info is already here. Oh, well, maybe reading it twice will help it sink in. Nah.]
Quote:
Originally Posted by pghquest
Of course it wouldnt because it would be a lie. The FCC started the program, and has continued to expand it over the last 30 years. Reagan, had nothing to do with it so keep the imbeciles comment to yourself..
The FCC started it, but they were acting based on legislation passed by congress and signed by Reagan. Then it expanded again when Clinton signed a new version. Then expanded again when Bush signed yet another version. The FCC (and any other government agency) can only expand within the parameters of the legislation passed by congress and signed by the president. That's how government works.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pghquest
The reason of course is because those programs were self funded, through a FCC tax, and thats no longer the case.
We spent I think $2.2B last year on the program, this would make the tax something like $50 per phone in the nation. (excluding the free phones who pay nothing of course)
Clearly you are smart enough to know thats not the case, correct? Where did the rest of the money come from?
The USAC is an independent non-profit organization that administers the Universal Service Fund. In 2012, they collected and spent $8.71B (including the $2.19B for Lifeline).
All of the money came from phone companies, and all of that money was ultimately paid by people who pay for phones. While technically most of the people who pay the fee are taxpayers, not all of them are. Anyone or any company who has a US phone pays into the fund. The money comes in the form of surcharges on every cell phone, residential phone, fax number, business phone, etc. in the United States. At one time my home had 5 phone lines, each with a charge. My mid-sized company has close to a thousand phone lines, each paying a surcharge.
Using your made-up numbers, and accounting for the entirety of the receipts by the USAC, this means it must have cost $200/phone. Using real world (not made up) numbers, it's usually only $0.50/phone.
IIRC, that program to provide rural America with phone service has been in use for most of my adult life.
Like much of the "welfare" programs, these were the results of companies wanting business. Big companies want in on the free money. I don't think individuals on SNAP could get the government to allow fast food purchases with food stamps, but McDonald's and Taco Bell can. One of the biggest boosters of expanding food stamps is Walmart.
Well that mission doesn't hold true anymore does it ?
Stimulus money was allocated to provide rural America with some wireless capabilities.
The bulk of that money stayed in the cities and was used to subsidize internet connections for inner city families.
Well that mission doesn't hold true anymore does it ?
Stimulus money was allocated to provide rural America with some wireless capabilities.The bulk of that money stayed in the cities and was used to subsidize internet connections for inner city families.
Who got to make that call, the feds or the states? I know the stimulus money for Texas low income housing weatherization came from the feds through the TDHCA in Austin. They decided where and who got to administer the money, therefore jobs.
Living in Texas, you know what the lege decides to collect for one thing in taxes does not always mean that's where the money goes.
Putting a stop to that kind of bait and switch would get us a long way to truth in government.
It all started with the Tel-Com Co's. lobbying to begin removing "hard wired" phones over a long time span. (no future upkeep of existing infrastructure, poles, wires, etc.)
We are not there yet, but we are also not that far away either. But if some politician can capitalize on it, they most certainly will.
This.
Who did the lobbying for this?
It was not the poor people that have no money to lobby with.
It was not by anyone in the Whitehouse just to be nice.
It would have been the Telecom Industry where there is something in it for them.
But Corporations are people and should be able to buy as much government and use my tax dollars to prop up said government just for them, since they are the only ones being represented.
Well that mission doesn't hold true anymore does it ?
Stimulus money was allocated to provide rural America with some wireless capabilities.
The bulk of that money stayed in the cities and was used to subsidize internet connections for inner city families.
The USF has nothing to do with stimulus money. The High Cost program under USF is how us city-dwellers make sure that the rural communities don't have to pay the actual cost for their telephony services.
Well it won't be over $2 billion this year.
The FCC finally audited the program and about 41% of the subscribers were dropped because they didn't qualify or return the information requested of them.
That cuts the cost almost in half which is a big savings.
I remember you posting something like this before. I guess people failed to read it.
Either that, or they just wanna cling to their old notions.
The program began almost three decades ago during the Reagan administration.
Officials feared poor customers would struggle to cover higher phone service
costs sparked by the breakup of the mammoth Bell System, known as Ma Bell.
Lifeline officially became part of the Universal Service Fund in 1996 when
Congress passed the Telecommunications Act.
But it was under President George W. Bush in 2005 that the FCC started
allowing some prepaid wireless providers to participate. This shift sparked
tremendous growth.
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