Come-On America, Free Phones

I was driving home the other day, when I happened to see a bum sitting on the curb talking on a cell phone. How did I know that he was a bum you might be thinking? Well I was born and raised on the lower east side of Manhattan in New York City. So believe me I know a bum when I see one. (Did you ever hear of the Bowery?) Therefore, I started thinking, what a country we live in that a bum can have a cell phone. America is truly the land of plenty. I am sure if you went to other countries you would not find bums with cell phones, why in a lot of countries cell phones are not even allowed. Yes the standard of living is high in our country, good for us. Then I started thinking, here is a bum probably living on the street, probably has to panhandle for food, has not taken a bath in God knows how long and is wearing someone else’s thrown away clothes. I started thinking about priorities. Now I don’t know where he got the phone, maybe he panhandled the money for it, maybe he stole it, maybe it was donated, but however he got it, it just seemed odd to me that a bum would have a cell phone. And who would he be calling? Do other bums have cell phones, do they all belong to a club, For BUMS ONLY and they have to call each other to find out when the next meeting is?

Well I found out that the government has a program (that’s right another one) that gives cell phones to people if they are on welfare or on food stamps or any other government handout. I started thinking why? Where are our priorities as a country? Do bums really need a cell phone? In my book America, A Society Gone Wrong I talk about government waste and cell phones for bums definitely falls under government waste. I have said many times I believe in helping people when they are down, because we all need help at one point or another in our lives. However, cell phones for bums? Come on, I have to draw the line there.

It’s getting to the point in this country that the average person would be a fool for working. Why should they? You can apply to the government and get a check every month to live on, food stamps, so food is not a concern, government housing, so you have a place to live. (I’m not going to get into a man I saw at the supermarket cashing a welfare check then buying $50 worth of lottery tickets) No wonder we have so many people sneaking into this country, everything is free. Well, not really, because it has to be paid by someone. I mean the government pays for it, but where does the government get the money? That’s right from the people who do work for a living and pay taxes. Now I don’t know about you, but that just does not seem fair to me. We have a president who keeps talking about paying our fair share, but what’s fair? Who determines what’s fair? Our president? Congress? No one should have to pay more than 20% of their income for taxes, I don’t care how much they make. Anything more than that is just plain theft. If our government cannot get by on what they bring in, than they have to do what the rest of us have to do, stop spending so much on asinine things. Like cell phones for bums.

This is one man’s opinion