Understanding the Universal Service Fund → Re: I say get rid of it...

Those police, fire, ambulance services do you no good if you can't call for them when needed. Which is a big reason why this country in the 1930's thought that every American house hold should have basic telephone service.

It cuts both ways. Rural residents have to pay for high-capacity urban interstate highways with their taxes, that they make no use of. And that's just one long list of urban amenitites that are financed in whole or in part by state and federal taxes. Or are you saying you only want to fund services that you directly benefit from, and screw everybody else?

That said, the USF in it's current form is an anachronism. Most places in the U.S., even rural areas, have some type of cellphone coverage. Just subsidizing the use of a cellphone in those cases where a subsidy is needed would take care of almost all instances that the USF was set up for, at a fraction of the cost.

Except that it doesn't cut both ways, in terms of who pays and who benefits. Urban residents pay the overwhelming amount of taxes, while rural residents receive disproportionate amount of services relative to what they paid.

There's a reason why electricity, highways, telephone, water, etc have to be subsidized. The rural areas would never get it otherwise, and they wouldn't be viable if they didn't get it.

That said, I'd agree with you that there is a lot a selfishness about taxes funding services that any particular person doesn't use.

How so?

I understand half of all the gas taxes collected in the St. Louis area go to maintain rural roads in the state of Missouri.

Why do you think I suggested an alternative such an income/property tax credit. Then the CONSUMER can decide how best to have their "security" in terms of being able to contact emergency services.

Grabbing a percentage of everyone's telecommunication costs and turning that over to huge corporations isn't my idea of the way to get this done. It's called corporate welfare and it's just as non-productive and ridiculous as social welfare. And before the bleeding hearts here cry about how welfare is a necessary safety net, I agree with you. I also agree that it's a very small percentage of our budget and not why we're running trillion dollar deficits. However, like our representatives shouldn't make a career out of getting elected, those in need shouldn't make a career out of social assistance.

Everyone should work. When Mexicans come across the border and think it's great to take jobs established citizens despise, this country is full of a bunch of spoiled brats.

I also see big corporations squeezing pennies with the thought of making an extra buck or two as they outsource jobs across the pond. However, I also believe the typical American worker has some blame too. Every day I work with lazy folks that have no work ethic and no sense of achievement. They no longer want to design and create things. They want to be in sales, marketing, law or finance in the hopes of sitting on their ass and making a lot of money because this country has created an economy where the few who make it in these positions thrive. Then they get elected to refine the legal environment even further to their advantage.

Pick up a history book and read what happen to Rome. As they say, history repeats itself again and again.

Urban areas get almost all of the benefits and rural residents pay more per person for everything. That may not be enough to pay the true costs but don't make it sound like rural areas are getting a free ride. The utility companies make huge profits in urban areas which is enough to subsidize the rural areas.

With respect to internet, rural areas are totally screwed. If service is available, it's at a higher price than in any urban area and is generally a worse service (lower speed). Urban areas are rewired every time a new service comes out while rural areas are still on whatever the original technology was. WISP is only an option if it provides the same speed, latency, and caps with the same flat rate pricing as wired service. Rural residents shouldn't be paying the same or more for inferior services.

I'd like to see the USF disappear but if it doesn't, it should be expanded to internet service.