Safelink Wireless phones-for-the-poor government program sends U.S. dollars to Mexican billionaire
by I Hate The Media
For those of you unfamiliar with the government’s free cell phone for the poor scam, we’ll start off with this brief summary:
If you’re poor and if you’re already receiving certain other government benefits, you can get a free cell phone and some free minutes every month through a company called SafeLink. If you want more background, you can read about the Safelink cell phone giveaway here and here and here and here. The program is paid for by the Universal Service Fund with fees added to every phone bill in America.
It would be bad enough if the money for this program was being channeled to an American phone company, but now we’ve discovered that all those hidden “taxes” are ultimately going to América Móvil, a Mexican phone company.
Even worse, América Móvil is the world’s fourth largest cell phone company, which just happens to be owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim. In effect, you are being taxed to subsidize the world’s richest man.
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