en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
 ·RoadRunner Cable
 ·DSL EXTREME
1 edit | have their cake and eat it too
AT&T and Verizon just want to have their cake and eat it too. USF/FUSF is a slush fund that should be stopped or at least made accountable. We all know that will never happen.
Telco's have lobbied in and sued in some cases when they were not able to deploy their upgrades... do we really think AT&T and Verizon _need_ USF funding - they have enough. |
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jafo1972
join:2004-04-15
Chicago, IL | Funds provided by the USF are being audited. I know for sure. I don't know why people think the FCC is not tracking those funds. |
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manfmmd
Premium
join:2003-01-14
Earth
clubs:
1 edit | I would rather...
have AT&T or Verizon building out the backbone/rural areas than the Federal Government. |
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sporkme
drop the crantini and move it, sister
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-01
Morristown, NJ
·Optimum Online
| reply to jafo1972
Re: have their cake and eat it too
said by jafo1972  :Funds provided by the USF are being audited. I know for sure. I don't know why people think the FCC is not tracking those funds. It is public money, so please, point us all to where we can get these figures from the FCC.  |
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sporkme
drop the crantini and move it, sister
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-01
Morristown, NJ | Corporate Welfare!
That's the kind of welfare we can all get behind, comrades! It will trickle down into our waiting mouths from the teat (or...) of ATT & VZ. |
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tenpin784
I Went To The Dark Side?
join:2001-03-30
New Durham, NH | Wheres the bindle?
yea you bum, thanks for thinking of us New England folk. |
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nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD
·Comcast
| 'billions in corporate welfare...'
that's all that needs to be said
the absolutely, positively worst thing that could happen with this money is to give it to the incumbents. The only thing worse I can think of is if they just burned the money.
...70-90 percent of USF goes directly to investors, not "universal service." |
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nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD
·Comcast
| reply to jafo1972
Re: have their cake and eat it too
said by jafo1972 :Funds provided by the USF are being audited. I know for sure. I don't know why people think the FCC is not tracking those funds. if I remember correctly, the funds have been audited before, horrible problems were found and nothing was done.
people don't think the FCC is tracking these funds because there are mountains of evidence of waste, fraud and abuse and the FCC never does anything that makes any difference (if they are doing anything at all). |
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willmw
join:2002-02-09
Thomson, GA
·AT&T Southeast
| From the trenches...
I work for a small school district and we have gotten some of these USF moneys over the past several years. I can tell you from working next to the person here that does all of the application paperwork, etc. that is has gotten progressively harder over the years to get any of this money as they have gotten increasingly picky about the details of the applications. |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ
 ·Sprint Broadband D..
| Wha? Who? Where?
C'mon, guys? Where are all the usual suspects? Why aren't they taking this opportunity to defend Verizon and AT&T? Where are all the posts about deregulation and Adam Smith's "Invisible Hand of The Marketplace"? I mean, people have been predicting this for months, if not years and have only gotten taken to task for their labors.
If not now, when, guys? Let's hear a little "Ugh. Deregulation bad. Corporate welfare good." here.
All this intellectual inconsistency is really, really unsettling. You're letting the side down.
And remember: Some of you surely get paid by the word. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
|  Burstein says but gives no proof
This was his whole post on the subject:
Quietly, Verizon and AT&T are making a big push to raid the Universal Service Fund, which is designed to help small rural carriers, not immensely profitable giants. They are burying the request in fine print and obscure phrases, using some of the usual fronts, and hoping to get billions in corporate welfare. Where's the beef? He has stated an opinion but shows no proof to back it up.
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My BLOG
My Web Page |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | reply to nasadude
Re: have their cake and eat it too
The GAO completed the audit, the FCC said they'd look into it, and nothing has changed. |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02
Host:
Road Runner
PC gaming GAMES
PC gaming Tech
| reply to TKJunkMail
Re: Burstein says but gives no proof
You're usually so good with Google when trying to throttle the evil socialists, TCH! Very disappointing.
Verizon's Tom Tauke has been pushing the idea of a national broadband strategy as the company takes aim at funds within the RUS:
»Verizon Wants National Broadband Strategy
And the USF:
quote:
The telecom giant also called on the U.S. Congress to make changes the Universal Service Fund program, a $4 billion program that subsidizes telephone access in rural and poor areas. Instead of providing USF funds to multiple carriers, the U.S. government should cap USF at its current funding levels, and require carriers to bid to provide service in areas where subsidies are needed, Tauke said.
»www.infoworld.com/archives/email···s_1.html |
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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs: | reply to manfmmd
Re: I would rather...
you are right! that damn gub'mint! can't do nutin' right! just look at Iraq! |
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manfmmd
Premium
join:2003-01-14
Earth
clubs:
| The famous variation of Goodwin's law. Federal Government=Bush=Iraq=Bad. 
How about having an original thought once in awhile?
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huh? | AIM | The beauty of ignorance is indescribable. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
1 edit | reply to Karl Bode
Re: Burstein says but gives no proof
Did Burstein provide any proof?
I didn't see it.
You looked something up which doesn't say that Verizon is RAIDING the USF. Just that they think changes are needed.
P.S> what does your new avatar signify? Some kind of socialist workers flag?
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My BLOG
My Web Page |
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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs:
·Charter Pipeline
·AT&T Southwest
| reply to manfmmd
Re: I would rather...
right, that coming someone spouting right wing fatty limbaugh's talking points?
i will never understand how the right equates corporate welfare (that is, giving corporations money---taxes paid by the people to the u.s. government) as both a good thing and consistent with their less government, less taxes, and free market mentality. the hypocrisy is astounding. |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | reply to TKJunkMail
Re: Burstein says but gives no proof
quote:
You looked something up which doesn't say that Verizon is RAIDING the USF. Just that they think changes are needed.
You say Tomato.... |
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manfmmd
Premium
join:2003-01-14
Earth
clubs:
| reply to morbo
Re: I would rather...
So you would rather have the Federal Government handle it squander the money away, than have private companies build and deploy, while being heavily scrutinized, the rural areas and backbone infrastructure?
I'll take private enterprise any day.
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huh? | AIM | The beauty of ignorance is indescribable. |
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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs:
·Charter Pipeline
·AT&T Southwest
| why do you think private enterprise is better? seriously. private enterprise is just as bad if not worse. just look at Verizon and the broken promises of fiber connections to the entire state of Pennsylvania. they received billions of dollars in tax breaks based on their promise to deliver fiber connections to all. they failed. but they still got billions. you don't call that squandering money of epic proportions? |
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