This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
what a bunch of low life jerks.
they can give millions in subsidies direct to corporations, but a mild discount in internet services for poor people requires incredible, roadblock worthy proof of obvious numbers for zero reason. theyre just assholes.
I would like to propose an alternative solution: Force broadband providers to offer low cost service to families that need it. Don't subsidize it, just force it.
Internet connections cost next to nothing to maintain. The telecoms can afford it.
they can give millions in subsidies direct to corporations
That's exactly why they're fighting it -- every dollar they give to poor people is a dollar less they can give to rich people.
That's what they think, or at least that's what they want you to think. Every study has shown that every dollar you give to anyone below the 40th percentile returns more than a dollar to the economy. The lower on the totem pole, the more it grows the economy. The opposite is also true. For every dollar you give the top 10 percent, 70 cents or less goes back into the economy.
The more they give the poor, the richer they would get, but the money isn't the point. Cruelty is. They want to cause as much harm as they can get away with before we whip out the trebuchets and guillotines.
If there's one thing Republicans can't stand, it's helping the poor.
Especially those with unplanned pregnancy
Excuse you those are gifts from God and future wage slaves!
It's two fold for them, I'd bet money that they're also trying to disconnect the youth in some attempt to grow their dwindling youth base. Their dumb book bans don't work so well when kids can just hop on the Internet and get it anyways (and more)
Can't have kids learning all that "empathy" and "caring" indoctrination! /s
As someone not from the USA I am convinced, after reading many news articles over the past decades, that people voting for the GOP are either evil or too dumb to make any kind of impactful decision.
There’s a reason they’ve been infiltrating school boards, banning books, and white washing history books. They can’t get elected if the electorate is educated and informed about the issues.
A lot of it stems from insecurity and otherism.
They're on the losing side but want to be in denial about it. Those on the winning side behave like patronizing children, which only causes the losing side to want to spite them.
Really, the US is an extremely successful example of how to keep people divided and distracted so they can be easily exploited by their rulers.
This is the case on both sides. Democrats are only progressive until it fucks with their money. Then they become real conservative, real quick.
Never a missed opportunity to grind the poor into the dirt, am I right republicans? Oh, but they’ll lobby for billions (with a fucking B) to give away in government subsidies to AT&T and other broadband providers all the while abolishing Net Neutrality.
If you have any illusion to think republicans are helping you at all, look no further than their jaw dropping history in telecom policy.
Republicans literally exist to only make things worse.
So don't be like that, they also exist to get paid by their corporqte overlords and remove rights.
You will find that was covered by the previous sentiment.
Internet should be treated as a utility, not a for-profit business who we need to give more government kickbacks to. Look how well that turned out in the past.
Exactly. It's a service. Service costs money. Pay for it with taxes
Republicans like helping Poor People like Jesus did!
Anyone else think republican politicians would be really bad at chess?
They'd play chess like a pigeon would. Flipping over pieces and shitting all over the board, while having no clue what they are doing, nor caring about what they are doing.
Well, shitting on things without consequence is definitely their definition of freedom.
So exactly how they govern.
Why do republicans hate poor people so much?
They don't see you as people. It's just that simple.
Rich republicans: because they view them as damaged goods who only have themselves to blame, that are only fit for slave labor to profit from.
Poor republicans: ?? probably think that they'll become rich one day, unlike those other poor low life schmucks who deserve nothing because they're damaged goods who only have themselves to blame, that are only fit for slave labor.
If you have the time, I recommend Adam Conover's podcast interview of Corey Robin about What Liberals Get Wrong about the Right. It answered a lot of questions like this for me.
$30 would pay for my fibre entirely
$30 would cover the $27 of taxes and (mostly) fees for my phone and internet (business) bundle.
I have a "Deregulated Administration Fee" of $8.95.
Edit: It is 100/40 bonded VDSL2 for those curious. There is an upgrade available to 200/40 though. Good speeds for middle of nowhere, but that means only one wired provider.
Should be higher. $60/mo. tax credit for broadband plus $2,000 every 3 years for tech gear.
That's more then I spend for my household on "tech gear" every 3 years, including cellular devices. I am far from any line that would qualify me for a program... seems excessive.
I agree with the bump to $60, $30 is a good subsidy like a decade + ago.
I thought there was a companion requirement that providers must offer a plan that is fully covered.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Republican members of Congress blasted a program that gives $30 monthly broadband discounts to people with low incomes, accusing the Federal Communications Commission of being "wasteful."
The lawmakers suggested in a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel that they may try to block funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which is expected to run out of money in April 2024.
The letter questioned Rosenworcel's testimony at a recent House hearing in which she warned that 25 million households could lose Internet access if Congress doesn't renew the ACP discounts.
"At a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on November 30, 2023, you asserted—without evidence and contrary to the FCC's own data—that '25 million households' would be 'unplug[ged]…from the Internet' if Congress does not provide new funding for the ACP," the letter said.
As Congress considers the future of taxpayer broadband subsidies, we ask you to correct the hearing record and make public accurate information about the ACP."
Unfortunately, your testimony pushes "facts" about the ACP that are deeply misleading and have the potential to exacerbate the fiscal crisis without producing meaningful benefits to the American consumer.
The original article contains 546 words, the summary contains 189 words. Saved 65%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
