January 27, 2012

Wealth Transfer on the March: 'Reforming' the Lifeline Program

By Henry Percy
Do you pay your phone bill? I do. Should you also pay for those who do not wish to? You already do. Does that give you a warm glow to know that you are helping spread the wealth, unasked? You see, phone service is so vital that everyone has a right to it, even as a drowning person has a right to a lifeline, and so the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) administers the Lifeline program. We're not talking about watered-down service that allows only 911 calls in an emergency but real, full-blown telephone service. But, someone says, isn't that harsh to say that the poor choose not to pay for telephone service? What if they can't afford it? In 2005, the average household defined as poor by the government lived in a house or apartment equipped with air conditioning and cable TV. The family had a car ... two color televisions, a DVD player, and a VCR ... a microwave, refrigerator, and an oven and stove ... a clothes washer, clothes dryer, ceiling fans, a cordless phone, and a coffee...(Read Full Article)