SafeLink......taxpayer sponsored cell phones for deadbeats!

me thinks you might be as mistaken as Odds....

i don't think that's how it worked for the land lines...and if your statement above is correct regarding the new cell plans (i don't think it is) then this is a pretty negligent oversight by whomever approves use of the 'subsidy' funds...

extremes are fun. no?

 

Basically, it's always been a $10 subsidy for land lines. So if a phone line normally costs $30, you pay $20.

Some phone company designed to give away free phones - at their expense - and give you $10 worth of free minutes each month. That's how we get to "free" cell phone once the FCC or whomever approved the wireless as an option. I don't really know, but I assume that if you end up using 100 minutes, you foot the bill on that - which would explain why the cell phone company would give away free phones.

 

I think the cell companies give away the phones to access the stream of $10/mo payments. I'd hope there'd be protections to prevent dooping, as SL contends. But we're just speculating madly here.

I was just pointing out that, as I understand it, this is no more a marketing plan to sucker poor people into buying more minutes then it is some grand Obama giveaway. And given that context, SL's accusatory rant against Odd's (though warranted in spirit overall) was pretty smug.

 

Certainly true. The simple fact is that you can't get a land line for $10/month, so you HAVE to pay something for that option. With the cell option, if you don't use the phone much, you get it for free - meaning the poor are better off in that situation by saving whatever they were paying for the land line.

 

took a quick look at the site. It's a prepaid phone. No surprise bills (a personal pet peeve) and no contracts. You're right -- probably a better deal for people who don't use the phone much! And for those for whom it doesn't work -- they can switch back easily.

I guess we should be thanking Oddson and his cohorts for publicizing this improvement to the program?

 

I worked on some of this stuff in my days at an evil ad agency. It's all about upselling them to something that makes money. Yes, it doesn't make them much, but these companies make something out of it and there's a market for it.

Is it exploitation? I don't know if it is because technically it's not hiding anything but you know, how many people read t's and c's when they sign up for "free" stuff.

Always read the fine print for anything...because there are people like me looking to find new and clever ways to take your money is less than open ways.

 

OddSon threads don't disappoint.

Simpletons.

 

To whom does the cost get passed through to? But then that is always the case. The consumer always ultimately pays.

 

Freedom has a cost to others. Every time you smoke, drink, eat Mickey D's, speed, stay up late, or whatever - someone else pays for it.

Either in insurance premiums, or higher cost of goods / services. It's not just the poor. Most of the money you pay in insurance goes to other people. People who are both sick for no other reason than bad luck or those because they are reckless.

That's just how the world works.

 

I know. I'm not complaining. Nothing happens unless the consumer pays for it. Then there is the question of the re-distribution of costs... :grin:

 

I would love to know how you feel about auto-insurance!

But if i understand it, it's ok to redistribute costs, so long as it's not wealth

 

OddsOn is the gift that keeps on giving, like herpes

 

Probably the most accurate display of the "odds on state of mind".

 

I think this needed to be re-posted, although I highly doubt Oddson will come back to this thread after showing what a complete sheep, tea-bagger he is.

"Uh, I was, uh, going to do research, on, uh, what Rush was talking about a few months back...uh, yeah, that's it..."

 

Wow how obsessive must some people be to continue the Reagan snipe hunt for that elusive cadillac welfare mother.

Good job Oddson moran.

 

the sad thing is that as much people are worried about corporations now being able to donate unlimited amounts to PACs, influencing the electorate, it is myths like in these chain mails that influence people even more.

 

This holloween, I'm dressing up as a simpleton.

 

All you need is a "Thakn God for Glenn Beck" sign and a tri-corner hat.

 

I don't know how it works with phones, but electricity has a similar program called LIDA (at least in Texas). In that program, you can qualify as low-income and then sponsors -- like a church, a charity, a relative, or whatever -- can put up money to pay a portion of your bill. There is a socialized cost since the REP has to run the program, which has overhead, and they pay for it with profitable customers. And the State has overhead costs with running the program too. But, taxpayers don't pay the variable costs of poor people's electricity.