Republicans slam broadband discounts for poor people, threaten to kill program
arstechnica.com
Thune, Cruz complain that $30 discounts go to people who "already had broadband."

And pull themselves up by their bootstraps as usual?

  • PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@lemmy.mlEnglish
    122·
    2 years ago

    Imagine living in the 2020’s in the developed world and not realizing that internet access is a basic necessity.

    Then imagine being the sort of person who would deny poor people basic necessities

      • Skybreaker@lemmy.worldEnglish
        62·
        2 years ago

        Might want to get that cough checked out. …unless you’re in America, in which case you probably couldn’t afford it.

          • Obinice@lemmy.worldEnglish
            20·
            2 years ago

            Sleep? What do you think this is, a spa?

            Get back to work, paid sick days are just a myth perpetuated by the evil socialist europeans. Don’t look it up.

            • Kiwi@lemmy.worldEnglish
              4·
              2 years ago

              If you don’t come into work today you are going to put undue burden on all of your coworkers. It’s certainly not my fault for staffing to the absolute bare minimum so that there is no room for people to be sick or take days off, it’s your fault for being a lazy worker

              • Chriswild@lemmy.worldEnglish
                31·
                2 years ago

                Oh you’re insisting you can’t come in because you are sick? I’m going to need a doctor’s note that will cost you a day’s wages.

    • PerogiBoi@lemmy.caEnglish
      321·
      2 years ago

      They know full well that internet is a necessity to participate in society.

      That is why they are blocking it with every fibre of their being.

      To them, poor people are poor because god is angry at them. They deserve to be poor.

    • Syo@kbin.social
      91·
      2 years ago

      basic necessity

      Did you misspell guaranteed revenue? They know exactly what they were doing.

    • be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social
      7·
      2 years ago

      Imagine living in the 2020’s in the developed world and not realizing that internet access is a basic necessity.

      Then imagine being the sort of person who would deny poor people basic necessities

      Standard Republican Worldview

    • quicksand@lemm.ee
      English
      2·
      2 years ago

      My mom works with internet people. I remember when I was a kid she was making fun of them for saying internet should be a basic human right. Nowadays, it would be hard to find someone who doesn’t think that lol

    • frunch@lemmy.worldEnglish
      79·
      2 years ago

      Trump 2024, lol

      (Edit: just to clarify–if you want all that bullshit, Trump is your man 🙌)

      (Edit 2: /s would apparently have been the appropriate indicator of my lack of seriousness. TIL!)

      • Cowbee@lemm.eeEnglish
        4·
        2 years ago

        Co-ops are cool, but markets in general have far too many disadvantages for me to advocate for market-based Socialism over a non-market solution.

        • frezik@midwest.socialEnglish
          3·
          2 years ago

          Short of a complete revolution, market Socialisim is probably the most viable path out of capitalism. It doesn’t have to stay there, and shouldn’t, but it’ll be a whole lot less messy than a revolution.

          • Cowbee@lemm.eeEnglish
            2·
            2 years ago

            Depends on the country, honestly. In America, I’m more inclined to believe Syndicalism would work, reform won’t meaningfully happen from within.

            In general, I’m anti-tendency and believe that the material conditions of each space need to be analyzed independently.

  • ares35@kbin.social
    42·
    2 years ago

    the sad bit is, wireline internet providers could sell $30 per month high-speed internet and still make money at that lower rate and without subsidies.

  • yOya@lemm.eeEnglish
    41·
    2 years ago

    Every penny that goes to social programs to help the poor is a penny that isn’t going to corporations and their billionaire donors. Of course they want to cancel it, along with social security, medicare and public libraries.

  • Iseja@lemmy.worldEnglish
    19·
    2 years ago

    Damn 30$ discount. How much do you pay in the states for broadband access. I pay about 40$ each month for a 500/500 connection.

    • admiralteal@kbin.social
      11·
      2 years ago

      In a city a connection like that is probably going to be in the area of $60 to $100. I pay $80 all in for a similar fiber connection.

      Outside of a city you just aren’t going to get it.

      There are a few places that have Community ISPs where it will be substantially less expensive, but those are the exceptions and many states have actually made it illegal to operate community ISPs.

    • Vyvanse@lemm.eeEnglish
      4·
      2 years ago

      Just got fiber in my area of the US, it’s $60 for 500/500, or $80 for 1000/1000

    • ares35@kbin.social
      3·
      2 years ago

      paying almost $90 now, here, for supposedly 300mbps (downstream) that barely ever gets past 60. there are people near me that pay about the same for 1mbps or less dsl (just outside of cable’s territory, so dsl is all they have)

      • Iseja@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        2 years ago

        Damn, this is in a small town in the most northern parts of Sweden and the apartment building is locked down to only one supplier aswell.

          • Iseja@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            2 years ago

            It is USD, pay 408 SEK where 58 is a invoice fee. Yeah, cannabis is very illegal here in Sweden but kinda easy to get hold of thanks to all the gangs.

    • bran_buckler@kbin.social
      2·
      2 years ago

      I’m in an urban area where my apartment building is wired for only one ISP. $92 a month, the speed test I just did was 400 down, 20 up.

    • fourfouroneone@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      2 years ago

      I pay $100 a month in a rural area for 12down/500kup by bridging two DSL connections, the only thing I can get in the woods. I can’t watch Hulu and browse the Internet at the same time.

  • Don Escobar@lemmy.worldEnglish
    15·
    2 years ago

    It’s what Republican Jesus would do, fuck the poor. We could fund Israel’s war with all that wasteful spending!

  • Nine@lemmy.worldEnglish
    12·
    2 years ago

    Fucking poor people!! Have they tried NOT being poor!? Bunch of lazy entitled poors!! /s

  • Codilingus@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    5·
    2 years ago

    Lmao, their problem with it, is that the vast majority of people using the ACP already had Internet before signing up…Which just proves how much of a necessity Internet is.

  • chb@lemmy.worldEnglish
    96·
    2 years ago

    We’re is this technology related? It’s completely political - something I don’t want to see, but now also technology cannot be followed anymore, as most things here are political news with a tech keyword in the headline sadly :/

    • hasnt_seen_goonies@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      2 years ago

      But isn’t broadband access one of the main requirements for using technology? I understand not wanting to interact with politics, but nothing in our life is truly separated from it.

      • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.caEnglish
        3·
        2 years ago

        Politics is everything

        If your kid is the better player but the coach picks his kid to be on the team then that’s politics

        If company puts a paid OS on their IBM machines because it’s made by the son of someone on their board instead of the superior free option then that’s politics