Originally Posted by galleryseek

While it's not technically a tax, the telecom companies are *mandated* to charge the overage to their customers, which is a part of the Universal Service Fund, enforced by the FCC. The USF includes a program called Lifeline for low income people to gain access to these phones.

Now of course, in typical cronyism/corporatism fashion, the telecom companies *love* the mandate, because it allows them to gain new subscribers from the low-incomers, and charge overages if they go over their monthly allotted time.



Sure, are you against theft? I know I am. That's how these "obama phones" are provided. The telecom companies are legally required, under the threat of force by the US government, to charge you more than they would have normally.

No matter what the reason or justification is (to save the trees, the bees, the children or the birds), you don't attempt to solve a problem by initiating or threatening the initiation of force against an individual(s) and their property (business).

So back when we had slavery, owners would say "Who's going to pick the cotton if we end slavery you nutball?", well it doesn't matter, because owning people is immoral.

So when you say, "How are low-incomers going to communicate with each other?", the moral response is, "I don't know. But we certainly aren't going to make threatening demands towards other companies to do it."