This has all been gone over before in other threads but in 2011 alone the cost of the Obama phone program (Safelink) to the federal government was $1.75 billion dollars! You linked to a Trac Phone press release so not surprisingly, it isn't big on facts. If the program costs the public nothing, as the press release claims, it's hard to see why the FCC would announce that reforms to the program, drug dealers love it, would save the government $200 million in 2012 http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2012/db0801/DOC-315505A1.pdf You just don't understand.
Wrong. The program started in 1996, and it was part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. President William Jefferson Clinton was President at the time. Which President or political party started the program is, at this point, irrelevant. Clinton may have started it, but Bush didn't stop it, and Obama certainly does not seem poised to end it anytime soon. The issue is that we, as a society, have gotten to the point where believe we are entitled to an item that is ABSOLUTELY, WITHOUT QUESTION, a luxury item! THAT is the outrage! Until people stop playing the blame game, "Democrats did this" or "Republicans did that", and actually try to address the problems themselves, BOTH parties will continue to abuse the power and authority given to them by WE THE PEOPLE of this country! I don't know about you, but I work DAMN HARD for my income, and while I understand my obligation to pay my taxes, I am absolutely APPALLED at how my federal government, both under the current democratic administration and the prior republican administration, wastes it.
Please reference your source. According to my source,Forbes, "The federal program dates back to 1996; it was part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996." According to the same article from Forbes: " there is a bill in place to put an end to the practice. Introduced in November 18, 2011, by Rep. Tim Griffin (R-AR), the Stop Taxpayer Funded Cell Phones Act of 2011, has three co-sponsors, Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA), Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) and Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL). The text is as follows: Prohibits a provider of commercial mobile communications service from receiving universal service support under specified provisions of the Communications Act of 1934 for the provision of such service through the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Lifeline program (a program that provides discounts on monthly telephone service to qualifying low-income consumers). The bill now sits in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. I’m guessing it will sit awhile. So there you have it. Yes, the program exists. No, it’s not an Obama administration program. Yes, taxpayers support it but no, not through federal income taxes." At this point, does it really matter who started it?
http://www.fcc.gov/lifeline No, it doesn't matter who started it really. I only brought it up because misinformed people keep trying to attach the program to Obama. Obama didn't start it, nor does he have the authority to end it. So, why do people keep calling them Obamaphones? because they are tools of the media.
Thank you for the clarification on the program's inception. It is unfair to attribute this program to President Obama, as he didn't start it. I don't like it when people inject opinions and emotions into a debate. I don't like President Obama's politics and many of his policies, but that doesn't justify falsely assigning the blame for this program on him.
The earned income credit is a gift to low wage employers such as Walmart who don't want to pay their workers enough to live on. The same goes for food stamps.
i don't think you'd qualify for the EIC working at walmart unless you were a single parent working with 4 kids.
http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Prev...,-Maximum-Credit--Amounts-and-Tax-Law-Updates http://makingchangeatwalmart.org/factsheet/walmart-watch-fact-sheets/fact-sheet-wages/
i've been wrong before (i can admit it, because it's so rare)...you have to be "average", and have at least one kid. got the rates? i remember that it once you hit the middle, the credit decreases.
A wage is many times contingent upon the required skill of the worker. How much should companies pay low skilled workers? Why don't low skilled workers acquire higher skills so they are in turn paid more? It is not a company's job to go into business to support it's workers.
