Thread: ObamaPhones Profiting Obama Donors

ObamaPhones Profiting Obama Donors

Program to aid the poor lining the pockets of the wealthy

BY: Andrew Stiles

October 8, 2012 5:00 am

A wireless company profiting from the so-called “Obama phone” giveaway program is run by a prominent Democratic donor whose wife has raised more than $1.5 million for the president since 2007.

Last week a video of a President Barack Obama supporter in Ohio claiming to have received a free phone from the president—“[Obama] gave us a phone!”—went viral, prompting media outlets to investigate.

Since 1985 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has operated a program called Lifeline, originally designed to provide free landline phone service for low-income individuals. The government subsidizestelecommunications firms providing the service, and those firms also pass on costs to customers via the “Universal Service Charge” on their phone bills.

The program expanded to include cell phones in 2008. That change hasrapidly increased the cost to the federal government—$1.6 billion in 2011, up from $772 million in 2008. The number of Lifeline beneficiaries rose from 7.1 million to 12.5 million during the same period; cell phones account for roughly half of that 12.5 million.

One of the major providers of the free cell phones—3.8 million subscribersas of late 2011—is Miami-based TracFone Wireless, a company whose president and CEO, Frederick “F.J.” Pollak, has donated at least $156,500 to Democratic candidates and committees this cycle, including at least $50,000 to the Obama campaign.

Pollak’s wife, Abigail, is a campaign bundler for Obama who has raised more than $632,000 for the president this cycle, and more than $1.5 million since 2007. She has personally contributed more than $200,000 to Democratic candidates and committees since 2008.

The Pollaks hosted Obama at their Miami Beach home in June for a $40,000-per-plate fundraising dinner, and hosted a similar event with Michelle Obama in July 2008. The couple personally donated a combined $66,200 to Obama’s reelection effort that year.

Visitor logs indicate that Frederick and Abigail Pollak have visited the White House seven times. In 2009, the president appointed Abigail to serve on the “Commission to Study the Potential Creation of a National Museum of the American Latino.”

TracFone, a direct financial beneficiary of the Lifeline program, receives $10 a month for each subscriber in the form of federal subsidies. The company can make an additional profit selling extra minutes to Lifeline subscribers who exceed their monthly allowance of 250 prepaid minutes.

TracFone and other wireless providers claim that revenue from selling additional minutes to Lifeline customers is low, but decline to publicly release such figures.

The program’s rapidly increasing costs have attracted the attention of Republicans and Democrats in Congress, and have prompted calls for reform. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.), for example, found that the program was “ripe for fraud.” In some cases, McCaskill noted in a December 2011 press release, the government was issuing multiple free phones to the same individuals.

“I remain troubled by the expansive potential for the program to be abused, especially since Americans contribute to the program through their monthly phone bills,” McCaskill, who is up for reelection, wrote in a formal letter to the FCC. “The current requirements to determine eligibility often do not require customer documentation for participation in Lifeline, which may result in individuals receiving phones who should not be.”

Rep. Tim Griffin (R., Ark.) has introduced legislation to restore the program to its originally intended purpose—providing landlines for use in emergencies—and stop the federal government from issuing free cell phones. Griffin told the Daily Caller he had heard reports of individuals receiving dozens of phones, some of which were of the expensive smartphone variety.

The FCC in response to such pressure announced in February 2012 to reform the program and “reduce the potential for fraud while cutting red tape for consumers and providers.”

TracFone, which did not return a request for comment, is the U.S. affiliate of America Movil, one of the largest phone service providers in Latin America.

America Movil is one of many business ventures controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, currently the world’s richest man, according to Forbes. Slim’s stake in the firm accounts for more than half of his $70 billion net worth.

Slim—who bailed out the New York Times and is often referred to as “Mexico’s Mr. Monopoly”—has visited the White House at least twice, according to visitor logs.

http://freebeacon.com/obamaphones-pr...g-obamadonors/

Redistribution/corruption two words that come to mind.

Gallup Poll Skews Non-White Sample Before Election

October 11, 2012

Alan Abramowitz of Huffington Post and The Democratic Strategist noticed that Gallup has increased its share of nonwhites from 27 percent the week of the convention to 32 percent last week, a nearly 20 percent boost. In other words, Gallup seemed to have tweaked its methodology with just weeks to go until Election Day to reflect the criticism that has come from the left.
And indeed, in a wonky and elliptical statement, Gallup chief Frank Newport essentially confirms the shift:
As we began this election tracking program on Oct.1, our methodologists also recommended modifying and updating several procedures. We increased the proportion of cell phones in our tracking to 50%, meaning that we now complete interviews with 50% cell phones and 50% landlines each night. This marks a shift from our Gallup Daily tracking, which has previously been 40% cell phones. This means that our weights to various phone targets in the sample can be smaller, given that the actual percentage of cell phones and cell-phone-only respondents in the sample is higher. We have instituted some slight changes in our weighting procedures, including a weight for the density of the population area in which the respondent lives. Although all Gallup surveys are weighted consistently to census targets on demographic parameters, we believe that these improvements provide a more consistent match with weight targets.
Read more: Gallup Poll Skews Non-White Sample Before Election - Polls - Fox Nation

RELATED

Obama Voter Says Vote for Obama because he gives a free Phone

http://www.alipac.us/f19/obama-voter...-phone-264544/

‘Obama Phone’ Makes World’s Richest Man Richer

Posted: October 12, 2012

Carlos Slim, who is said to be the world’s wealthiest man, is apparently cashing in on the “Obama phone” program.

The federal government’s Lifeline program for handing out free cell phones to low-income Americans came to the forefront in a viral YouTube video of a Ohio woman saying she was voting for Obama because he gave her a phone.

It turns out that Slim, a telecom mogul based in Mexico, and another politically connected individual are profiting nicely from this rapidly expanding free cell phone program, according to FNC:


“Carlos Slim, who has an estimated net worth of $70 billion, owns a controlling stake in TracFone, which makes $10 per phone for each device it provides to poor Americans. The company, whose president and CEO is Frederick ‘F.J.’ Pollak, also makes money from extra minutes and data plans it sells to subscribers who get phones and service through the government’s Lifeline program.”

FNC also reports that Pollak and his wife are big Obama campaign donors and bundlers who have also hosted fundraisers for the president and contributed to other Democrats.

The Lifeline program reportedly cost the taxpayers about $1.6 billion in 2011.

Legislation has been introduced in Congress to phase out the Lifeline program.

In March, Forbes described Slim’s balance sheet as follows:

“Carlos Slim Helu retains the title of world’s richest man for the third year in a row despite a fortune that’s $5 billion smaller than a year ago-primarily *because of a lower share price for telecom giant America Movil, which accounts for more than half his net worth.”

American Movil is apparently Latin America’s largest mobile-phone carrier.

‘Obama Phone’ Makes World’s Richest Man Richer

AT&T Lifeline - Low-Income Phone Service
www.att.com/gen/general?pid=22888
AT&T Lifeline offers a discounted telephone service plan to make basic phone service even more affordable for qualified customers.


Lifeline - Wireless from AT&T
www.wireless.att.com/learn/articles-resources/.../lifeline-link-up.jsp
AT&T is proud to offer Lifeline service, which provides discounted service for eligible customers. If you live on tribal lands, you could also qualify for Enhanced ...

‘Obamaphone’ program stashes $9 billion in private bank accounts


A supporter displays an iPhone during a rally for Sen. Barack Obama in Raleigh, N.C., on Oct. 29, 2008. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s very selection as running mate was officially announced to the world through a telephone text message. ... more >

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Thursday, June 29, 2017

The controversial “Obamaphone” program, which pays for cellphones for the poor, is rife with fraud, according to a new government report released Thursday that found more than a third of enrollees may not even be qualified.

Known officially as the Lifeline Program, the phone giveaway became a symbol of government waste in the previous administration. Now a new report from the Government Accountability Office bears out those concerns.

The report, requested by Sen. Claire McCaskill, Missouri Democrat, also says the program has stashed some $9 billion in assets in private bank accounts rather than with the federal treasury, further increasing risks and depriving taxpayers of the full benefit of that money.
“A complete lack of oversight is causing this program to fail the American taxpayer — everything that could go wrong is going wrong,” said Mrs. McCaskill, ranking Democrat on the Senate’s chief oversight committee and who is a former state auditor in Missouri.

“We’re currently letting phone companies cash a government check every month with little more than the honor system to hold them accountable, and that simply can’t continue,” she said.

The program, run by the Federal Communications Commission, predates President Obama, but it gained attention during his administration when recipients began to associate the free phone with other benefits he doled out to the poor.

Some 10.6 million people have an Obamaphone, but 36 percent of them may not qualify, investigators said after sampling the population and finding a huge chunk of people couldn’t prove they were eligible.

More than 5,500 people were found to be enrolled for two phones, while the program was paying for nearly 6,400 phones for persons the government has listed as having died.

Investigators also submitted fraudulent applications to see what would happen, and 12 of the 19 phone carriers they applied to approved a phone.

The theory behind the program was that poor people needed a phone to apply for a job or conduct other business in the modern economy, so they were provided with what was supposed to be a low-cost, limited-service benefit.

Though the program is administered by the federal government, funding comes from cellphone carriers, who pass the costs on to customers through the universal service fee charge that many see on their monthly bills.

Thursday’s report is just the latest warning from the GAO, which is the government’s chief watchdog. Previous reports had warned the Obama administration the program was susceptible to double-dipping, and that the FCC didn’t even have a good yardstick to measure whether the program was meeting its goals.

The FCC had promised to make changes, but the new report says those have fallen short.

GAO investigators questioned whether the program is even needed anymore. The price of phones and service on many plans have dropped dramatically, making them affordable for nearly everyone, the GAO says. Investigators also found that without the free government phone, many recipients would gladly pay for the services on their own anyway.

In its official response, the FCC called the GAO’s report “thoughtful” and promised to try to clean up the program. It said it’s already taken steps to improve the situation.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...d-fraud-audit/

They're all crooks. All these Obamaites.

LOCK 'EM UP!! LOCK 'EM UP!!!

Originally Posted by Newmexican

‘Obamaphone’ program stashes $9 billion in private bank accounts

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...d-fraud-audit/

Is Washington Times a fake news site? - Quora

Yes, the Washington Times is generally fake news. I say “generally” because some if not most of its articles start with a small grain of fact, rather than being complete ...

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Is Washington Times a fake news site? - Quora

Yes, the Washington Times is generally fake news. I say “generally” because some if not most of its articles start with a small grain of fact, rather than being complete ...

No, It is not. I subscribed to both the Washington Times and the Washington post when I lived in Virginia. The Post was always liberal and the Times was conservative. I would post a piece from the Washington Times before I would post one from the Washington Post or Salon or Media Matters etc....

These are the two comments, part of which was quoted, from QUORA which I am sure is a very reliable source.....

As they appeared at the link.

As far as I can tell Magnus Burgio, Patriot, stated his own opinion but then so did Paul Ivice. and they were the only two comments Heavy editing to make a personal point...

2 Answers

Magnus Burgio, Patriot
Answered Apr 15

Yes, the Washington Times is generally fake news. I say “generally” because some if not most of its articles start with a small grain of fact, rather than being complete fabrications.
The Washington Times is the media outlet for Korean cult leader Sun Myung Moon and his “church.” Moon was always candid about the Times’s mission. In the speech printed here, Freedom, Family and Faith, he outlines the history of and his goals for the Times.

He founded the Times while on trial for tax evasion in the 1980s. He stated, “I founded The Washington Times as an expression of my love for America and to fulfill the Will of God, who seeks to establish America in His Providence.” Throughout the 1980s the Times ran anti-communist stories.

But, Moon wrote, “The mission of The Washington Times, however, was not finished with the end of the Cold War.” He described an America of secular values that had grown distant from God. He wrote, “God desired that America maintain its traditional family and moral values, which had fallen into confusion.” Moon continued, “Thus, ten years ago, at the 10th anniversary celebration for The Times, I defined another mission for the media. This is, that the media need to promote ethics and moral values in our society.”

So Moon saw the Times as a patriotic entity whose mission was and remains to bring America to its destiny as an establishment of God. He wrote, “[The] individual connection to God stems from the same root as America's founding tradition. I hope that each of you will also take up this mission of the media as your own and accept faith as the essential part of your character.”
So the Washington Times is a religious site, not a news site.

827 Views · 2 Upvotes


Paul Ivice, nearly 40 years as writer and editor, mostly for midsize daily newspapers in US
Answered Dec 30, 2016

The Washington Times is a real newspaper. Though less reliable and more biased than most, it is not fake news. It’s history of ownership, however, may provide some clues to why (from Wikipedia): Founded on May 17, 1982, by Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon, the Times was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the church until 2010, in which Moon and a group of former executives purchased the paper. It is currently owned by diversified conglomerate Operations Holdings, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the church.

702 Views · Answer requested by Dave Davis

https://www.quora.com/Is-Washington-...fake-news-site