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Topic:
U.S. Taxpayers On The Hook For $1.6 Billion In Free Cell Phones For Poor
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combat_mage_sc
Title: Hi. My name is Combat and i'm an alcoholic.
Posts: 1,061
Registered: 2001-7-20 21:19:21
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
U.S. Taxpayers On The Hook For $1.6 Billion In Free Cell Phones For Poor
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Last year, a federal program paid out $1.6 billion to cover free cell phones and the monthly bills of 12.5 million wireless accounts. The program, overseen by the FCC and intended to help low-income Americans, is popular for obvious reasons, with participation rising steeply since 2008, when the government paid $772 million for phones and monthly bills. But observers complain that the program suffers from poor oversight, in which phones go to people who don’t qualify, and hundreds of thousands of those who do qualify have more than one phone.
Last summer, a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review story shed some light on a government program that relatively few Americans knew existed. (Read more about it here.) The Lifeline program provides low-income Americans with free cell phones (basic ones such as those made by Tracfone, not smartphones) and covers up to 250 free minutes each month. As many as 5.5 million residents in Pennsylvania alone could qualify for the program, which is funded primarily by the Universal Service Fund fee added to the bills of land-line and wireless customers.
http://news.yahoo.com/washington-footing-cell-phone-bill-millions-low-income-202500656.html
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Hyperimiator
Title: Maximus Probus
Posts: 840
Registered: 2001-7-20 18:55:36
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
U.S. Taxpayers On The Hook For $1.6 Billion In Free Cell Phones For Poor
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Well at least I will now get an telephone that has service in Europe.
Mobi is subsidized by this program, and that is the service my company uses, $30/month unlimited minutes and no long distance I provide this phone for all employees, all USA and territories, out to Guam anyway are covered. oh well....
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The Hyperimiator song
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JD_HOGG
Posts: 2,846
Registered: 2008-3-18 08:04:21
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
U.S. Taxpayers On The Hook For $1.6 Billion In Free Cell Phones For Poor
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Sweet! Dope dealers don't even have to buy their own phones! The DEA provides them!
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-Ducky-
Posts: 580
Registered: 2001-6-1 14:21:49
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
U.S. Taxpayers On The Hook For $1.6 Billion In Free Cell Phones For Poor
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OFN. We call them Obamaphones at work 
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Love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair.
So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world. ~ Jack Layton
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faefrost
Posts: 70
Registered: 2000-4-27 21:34:34
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
U.S. Taxpayers On The Hook For $1.6 Billion In Free Cell Phones For Poor
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relatively few know exist? They advertise this program every 10 minutes on every radio station in the Atlanta area? All day and night. YOU MAY QUALIFY FOR A FREE CELL PHONE, ETC ETC!
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You were designed to be a moron!"
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-Foxy-
Title: Moderator
Ãœber Brat
Posts: 6,565
Registered: 2002-5-29 21:46:17
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
U.S. Taxpayers On The Hook For $1.6 Billion In Free Cell Phones For Poor
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your govt at work
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Long suffering vassal to Xarkath, U.P. - Forever and ever
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Arc_DT
Title: Mithan said I am smart
Posts: 363
Registered: 2002-5-28 08:25:51
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
U.S. Taxpayers On The Hook For $1.6 Billion In Free Cell Phones For Poor
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I fail to see the surprise or the timeliness of this article. Government provides free phones-- people use them! *gasp* There's a vague reference to some phones going to those who don't qualify, but not even an obviously-dug-straight-out-of-the-ass estimate of the extent of the fraud. And omg, fraud exists at some tiny level in a government program? *gasp*
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-Grover Norquist
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MICHIGAN - Where the trees are the right height!
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JD_HOGG
Posts: 2,846
Registered: 2008-3-18 08:04:21
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
U.S. Taxpayers On The Hook For $1.6 Billion In Free Cell Phones For Poor
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Poor people should have private jets.
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Arc_DT
Title: Mithan said I am smart
Posts: 363
Registered: 2002-5-28 08:25:51
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
U.S. Taxpayers On The Hook For $1.6 Billion In Free Cell Phones For Poor
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JD_HOGG posted:
Poor people should have private jets.
Yes, that is the moral and financial equivalent of a super cheap phone with no internet access that one can use to leave a phone number on a job application.
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"... We just need a president to sign this stuff... Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president."
-Grover Norquist
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MICHIGAN - Where the trees are the right height!
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JD_HOGG
Posts: 2,846
Registered: 2008-3-18 08:04:21
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
U.S. Taxpayers On The Hook For $1.6 Billion In Free Cell Phones For Poor
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Arc_DT posted:
JD_HOGG posted:
Poor people should have private jets.
Yes, that is the moral and financial equivalent of a super cheap phone with no internet access that one can use to leave a phone number on a job application.
It will help them get to job interviews. Why are you so anti-poor, you elitist or something?
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