The phone system was not developed by tax dollars. It was developed by guys like Art Brothers who hand built miles of open wire pole lines by himself. He later got loans from the REA (later to become the RUS) to improve his system. A program that serves as a profit center for the us government. You all should be thanking the RUS for making your income tax bill lower through money that flows from that program to the general fund.
Do you really think Ma Bell was not profitable and had to be supported by taxes? When I think of blue chip stock, I think of the old AT&T. How was the phone system developed by tax dollars? 120 years ago there was a boom in telecommunications with in some cases multiple LECs in the same city. Government regulation stepped in to create the monopoly and to tax it. But they did not build the bell system or any of the independents. ----- Original Message ----- From: "RickG" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org> Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 10:04 AM Subject: Re: [WISPA] gotta love USF!!!! > Chuck, so your definition of a "tax" is if you are forced to pay? > Keeping in mind that the phone system was developed as a public > utility by tax dollars that we all were forced to pay. IMO, that means > that we should be able use it without being encumbered by fees other > than what are necessary to support the system is was designed for. Am > I really off base here? > -RickG > > On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 11:55 AM, Chuck McCown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Use magic jack, ham radio, smoke signals, skype or the post office. >> Your telephone bill comes from a commercial enterprise. >> You do not have to participate. >> Therefore you are not forced to pay into our charity program. >> That is not a tax. >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "RickG" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org> >> Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 9:52 AM >> Subject: Re: [WISPA] gotta love USF!!!! >> >> >>> Tacking a fee on my telephone bill is a form of taxation. -RickG >>> >>> On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 11:34 AM, Chuck McCown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>>> The current USF audits by USAC are turning up collusion between school >>>> districts (the principle is the brother of the local ISP) and provider >>>> of >>>> goods and services of E-rate funded projects. The audits have not >>>> shown >>>> any >>>> telephone company to be misusing this money. >>>> >>>> And I want to repeat, this is not taxpayer money. Most of this money >>>> is >>>> from a charge tacked onto the bills of the RBOC customers. It is >>>> revenue >>>> pooling and re-distribution. >>>> >>>> So, lets back off the "misuse by telephone company" tone of this >>>> discussion. >>>> If we want to point fingers, you will find the fingers are pointing at >>>> the >>>> local networking and ISP companies. That is the major source of the >>>> misuse. >>>> The second is cell phone companies claiming to be providing pots >>>> service >>>> to >>>> rural customers via tellular units. Western Wireless built a business >>>> plan >>>> around tapping the USF for all it could get. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>>> WISPA Wants You! Join today! >>>> http://signup.wispa.org/ >>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>>> >>>> WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org >>>> >>>> Subscribe/Unsubscribe: >>>> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >>>> >>>> Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ >>>> >>> >>> >>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> WISPA Wants You! Join today! >>> http://signup.wispa.org/ >>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> >>> WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org >>> >>> Subscribe/Unsubscribe: >>> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >>> >>> Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ >>> >> >> >> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> WISPA Wants You! Join today! >> http://signup.wispa.org/ >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org >> >> Subscribe/Unsubscribe: >> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >> >> Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ >> > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
