Just a Reminder: YOU Pay for Every Obama Phone

Somehow a vast number of Americans believe the "Government" pays for certain things (or many things).  This, of course, isn't true.  The "Government" actually pays for absolutely nothing.  Either we taxpayers pay the bill through our taxes or, more increasingly, the government borrows the money and pays using these borrowed funds.  Either way we are ultimately on the tab.

But the phenomena of the "Obama Phone" has gone viral this campaign season.  This program, begun long before Obama even thought of running for President, was originally designed to help poor rural citizens pay for telephone service and to encourage the telephone companies to extend telephone lines to remote areas.

For reasons that defy understanding, a few years ago (again before Obama was President), the program was expanded to provide cell phones to virtually all low income people nationwide.

It is curious how some enterprising salesmen and telephone resellers have renamed the program the "Obama Phone" implying the President deserves full credit for providing cell phones to millions. Check out this URL: www.obamaphone.net

Assuming that you are NOT one of the low income people receiving an Obama Phone, you are paying for them!  You are on the hook for millions and millions of cell phone bills!  And the program is absolutely EXPLODING.

I want to emphasize that this isn't Warren Buffet or the multimillionaires paying, it's virtually anyone who uses a telephone.  It is an egregiousness TAX on lower income and middle income people.

Here's HOW YOU PAY: The program is funded through the “Universal Service Fund” charge on phone bills — usually a dollar or two per bill per month — and the amount of the fee is determined by the cost of this and other programs. In other words the more people given the supposedly "FREE" Obama Phones the higher YOUR PHONE BILL RISES!!!

A growth of $100 million in this program could result in an increased fee of a few cents on the average bill, according to officials from the agency that administers the program. The total cost of the program nationwide was $1.5 billion in 2011, up from $1.1 billion in 2010.

Today, thanks to the viral You Tube Video requests for the phone have also gone viral! Costs could jump to over $2 billion by the need of this year.  You phone bill could jump to by another $2.00 a month.

Just remember the government pays for absolutely nothing.... ever.  Every government program is ultimately paid by individual citizens.
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Certainly an interesting question is, "Will FREE Obama Phones throw the election to President Obama?" There is a reason its illegal to provide financial incentives to voters.  But keep in mind that the President is not doing that.  This program began and expanded long before Obama became President.

But it is now always called "Obama Phones" and over 1,000,000 (one million) OHIO residents alone now receive Obama Phones.  That's more than enough votes to sway the election.  What if Mitt Romney is right?

This article in The Dayton Daily News was certainly helpful in preparing today's blog entry.  Read it in full and you decide: 1 million Ohioans using free phone program

The photograph above is of Ohio resident Aliesa Azbill and was taken by Chris Stewart.  It is from the Dayton Daily News article.