Posted on 01/29/2012 8:56:46 PM PST by blam
Outrageous! The Government Is Giving Out Free Cell Phones And Free Cell Phone Minutes To Welfare Recipients
Michael Snyder
January 29, 2012
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.
They’re commonly known as obamaphones.
Isn't that what this is all about?
It was a bit of a hassle to do the initial setup, but after the first use it just took a couple of minutes to add air time to it.
Can't remember what company it was.
Free Cell Phones And Free Cell Phone Minutes To Welfare Recipients
For everyone who opposes this kind of handout. Please support Newt Gingrich. I am sending him a copy of my own personal plan for dealing with the overwhelming number of welfare recipients and other gubmint benefits deadbeats. I have recently come to the realization that I may never be elected President of these United States. Therefore I am sending a copy of my plan to Newt for his use. The plan is really very simple and it will solve both the welfare and illegal immigration problem at the same time. We simply sign a brand new trade agreement with Mexico and we put it into effect immediately it is so simple all that we have to do is send Mexico three welfare recipients for every young person who would like to come to America. All they must do is obey our laws, learn to speak english, and have no prior criminal record. We can tell the welfare recipients they are getting a free gubmint paid vacation. This program will have to be implemented and carried out very quickly because as soon as Mexico figures out what we have done to them they will want to break the treaty. The more you think about it the more it makes sense.
A few weeks ago, someone posted an article about the number of people that were on food stamps.
So...I thought I'd see how easy it is/was to get food stamps and logged onto the program to do so. Soon, it was obvious I wasn't anywhere near qualified (which I knew before hand), anyway, the qualifications were higher than I had expected.
Now the suprising part... a couple days later, I started get solicited (spammed) by the government that if I was eligible for food stamps that I was probably eligible for: (a list of other programs, click here)...no kidding!!
I had to cut out home internet and cable since last March, along with other luxuries because my wife got sick and hasnt worked since, but I have to have my phone for my job, Thats why I havent posted lately,
I pay 30 bucks a month for 1000 min, 1000 texts, and 30 mb of data through straight talk, Up until last week, that little phone was my home internet,
My vehicle aint new,,,but its mine,
The laptop Im posting on I put together from two broken ones people didnt want to fix, The period button aint workin, but its mine,
We had to cut back on our food spending, Ate alot of beans and deer meat, The doggies still ate good though,
I couldve gotten Food stamps, Couldve got a free phone too,but I made it work without asking no one for nothing, Its called having priorities,
Actually, during this past year, some of the cutting back forced my wife and I to get closer, Instead of going out to eat, we would pack a picnic and hike down to the creek, We learned how to make do with less so when things get better, we can save more money every month,
|
Oh, what are other fine reasons you think I should have my money taken from me? Do you want to come and take it yourself or are you content to send your government thugs. I'd really like you to try to take it from me. I'd like that very much. |
You'll survive and prosper in the future.
Good luck.
Well done Sir, and the same to your wife,
Be proud of your efforts, your self worth and dignity.
Your powerful message to the masses, “We shall never give in”
I am humbled reading your post.
Thank you!!!!
EL
I’m pretty sure that free cell phones was written in the Constitution.
You called me sir,,,lol,
Im very proud of my wife who has not complained one bit, but Ive done nothing special, Like millions of my fellow Americans I get up and go to work everyday, do the best I can,
To me, what makes America great, what makes her worth giving my life for, what made it worth growing up without my grandpa, is the fact that everyday people show up on our shores from all over the world with nothing more than the clothes on their backs and the promise that they can achieve whatever they are willing to work for,
"A well regulated voice, data, and texting plan, being necessary to the security of an informed and up to date populace, the right of the people to receive and bear free Cell Phones courtesy of the State, shall not be infringed."
“the federal Universal Service Fund”
Geeze, that’s the “Al Gore Tax” The author acts like this is *new* knowledge.
So is free assembly.
Without cell phones, how can a flash mob be organized?
They can afford a TracPhone, I bet.
Heck, put on daytime TV around here and you’ll get tons of ads for this service. Free cellphone and plan, but only if you’re on Welfare.
Yes, once my Sprint contract was up several years ago I switched to Tracfone & have used it ever since. I may have had to call them for help, but I did manage to get set up & I am very tech unsavvy...had to have help buying/setting up this laptop, my printer, the new antennae when we had the switch to digital (don’t have cable) etc.
Sounds perfect for drug dealers.
On the positive side, those that commit the most crimes now carry personal tracking devices that ping their location periodically. It’s a slight software change to record all conversations and take photos and videos, even when the phone is powered off.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.