Republicans slam broadband discounts for poor people, threaten to kill program
arstechnica.com
Republicans slam broadband discounts for poor people, threaten to kill program::Thune, Cruz complain that $30 discounts go to people who "already had broadband."
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.
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.
But that risks poors being less poor and exploitable. It's ultimately about the control.
They'd keep the control if they gave the poor the resources they need. That doesn't upset the balance of power, it just grows the economy to the size it needs to be for everyone to thrive. Control is already secured. Cruelty is the point.
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
I can very easily see republican communities banding together against the internet in the same way Amish ones do.
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.
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.
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 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.
Republicans like helping Poor People like Jesus did!
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.
Is the money supposed to completely pay for it or is it a subsidy? If it's a subsidy then $30 seems fine. High speed Internet at around $50 seems pretty common.
Idk. Where I live the cheapest option is like $65. I think one company offers 10mb for less, but for obvious reasons I haven't switched to that.
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!
I gave up on cable internet about 2 years ago.
I just use my phone and haven't looked back. Saves me a ton of money, too.
Oh wow, I have 5G on my phone and it served its purpose when the cables were being repaired (which took a few months), but I'm not pulling 1000/1000 mbit with latencies of under 6 ms from the air, and it only costs like 35 eur / month
I can get 500mbps for $50 or 1gbps for $65.
My cell phone bill is only $25, and I don't need to download large files often or under time-constraints.
Having an extra $600 in my bank account every year is pretty noticeable, though.