Yet again, my Wallet Rule:
“You go out on Friday night with your wallet. You go out the following Friday night with my wallet. On which Friday night are you going to have more fun?
“Obviously you will have more fun with my wallet than yours – because at the end of the revelry you care what your wallet looks like. My wallet? You don’t care quite so much.
“Well, government is always using other peoples’ wallets – and the Friday night never, ever ends.”
This is how a once serious and solvent nation becomes a Third World, bankrupt basket case.
Government LOVES shot-gunning trillions of our dollars in the general direction of nowhere. In the name of “compassion.” In the name of “equity.”
In the name of “helping.” Which reminds of Ronald Reagan:
“The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
The Feds spent FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS in the name of China Virus “help.” How’d that go?
The Trillions in Covid-19 Relief Money Led to (Hundreds of) Billions in Fraud
Covid-19 ‘Bailouts’ Offered New Examples of Government Waste
Blame Congress for COVID-19 Pandemic Relief Fraud and Waste
Except no one ever gets blamed. So government never, ever stops spending.
Barely-there President Joe Biden just waved his imperial hand and waived nearly ONE TRILLION DOLLARS in loans for indoctrinated college victims and their ridiculous anti-Reality degrees.
Because nothing says “equity” quite like forcing a hundred-plus-million Americans who never went to college – to pay for college. Plus interest.
And then there’s this….
NTIA Head Reiterates Importance of Broadband Maps for Fund Disbursal:
“Alan Davidson, head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said Monday that effective spending of federal funding is only possible with better broadband maps.
“‘We can’t do this properly without better mapping data,’ Davidson said at the 18th annual State of the Net conference.”
Absolutely: If The Feds are going to spend money to connect the unconnected to the Internet – we need to have accurate, detailed maps of who is actually unconnected.
Except it’s almost 2023 – and we STILL do not have accurate, detailed maps of who is actually unconnected.
Has that stopped The Feds from spending decades spending MORE THAN A TRILLION DOLLARS – allegedly to connect the unconnected? Heavens no.
How the Infrastructure Bill’s $65 Billion in Broadband Spending Will Be Doled Out – November 9, 2021
Hint: Not well. Because they don’t know who is actually unconnected.
We don’t have maps now – we certainly didn’t have them way back then….
(Barack Obama) Stimulus Bill Includes $7.2 Billion for Broadband – February 18, 2009
That nearly one hundred billion dollars – is but a drop in the government waste bucket.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) taxes the living daylight out of us – to waste the money on “connecting the unconnected.” Again, without accurate maps to tell them who is actually unconnected.
And it ain’t a one-time “stimulus” thing. They do it every second – of every minute – of every hour – of every day – of every year….
Read the Fine Print: Federal Universal Service Fund Fee Increases (Again):
“In April 2021, the Federal Communications Commission started collecting a 33.4% contribution factor for the Federal Universal Service Fund (FUSF), its highest rate ever. This fee is assessed on the interstate and international portions of your phone bill, including cellular, landline, and VoIP.”
THIRTY-THREE POINT FOUR PERCENT – and ever-increasing:
“While it is a federal program, these are not taxes but discretionary fees that can change every quarter (and change they do).
“For context, in the early aughts the contribution factor was in the single digits. The FCC revises the rate up or down each quarter, but it has been on an increase.”
Twenty years ago – the “fee” rate was single digits. So sure, the FCC can “revise the rate up or down.” But – it’s the government. So the FCC “revises the rate up” – and up. And up. And up. And…:
“According to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Brendan Carr, up to $800 billion is available across the country to build out broadband infrastructure.”
NEARLY A TRILLION DOLLARS MORE. And again – they STILL do not have accurate maps to tell them who is actually unconnected. Forget “Ready,” forget “Aim” – “FIRE!!!”
Oh: And here’s some additional fun. While we get the crap taxed out of us to pay for this aimless idiocy – guess who does not?
And for added embarrassment? The European Union (EU) has figured this out before we have.
EU Suggests Big Tech May Have to Start Paying for Telco Infrastructure:
“Discussing complaints by European telcos that the costs of building out new comms infrastructure is battering their margins while Silicon Valley internet firms have been making money hand over fist selling services that make use of it, EU digital chief Margrethe Vestager has suggested the bloc thinks the telcos have a point.
“She said in a news conference according to Reuters:
“‘I think there is an issue that we need to consider with a lot of focus, and that is the issue of fair contribution to telecommunication networks.
“‘Because we see that there are players who generate a lot of traffic that then enables their business but who have not been contributing actually to enable that traffic.
“‘They have not been contributing to enabling the investments in the rollout of connectivity. And we are in the process of getting a thorough understanding of how could that be enabled.’”
In the US – that would mean Big Tech FINALLY kicking in to the FUSF.
Because – SURPRISE – they do not.
Because that just screams government “equity.”
What it really, quietly whispers is: Government cronyism.