From NY Times:

"John Cobb, 59, a former commercial fisherman who is disabled with cirrhosis of the liver and emphysema, lives in a studio apartment in Greensboro, N.C., on a fixed monthly income of $674. He has been hoping to receive more government assistance and, in February, he did.

It came in the form of a free cell phone and free service.

Cobb became one of a small but rapidly growing number of low-income Americans benefiting from a new wrinkle to a decades-old federal law that provided them with subsidized landline telephone service.

In a twist, wireless carriers are receiving subsidies to provide people like Cobb with a phone and typically 68 minutes of talk time each month. It is a form of wireless welfare that puts a societal stamp on the central role played by the mobile device.
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Cobb's cell phone is a Motorola 175. “I feel so much safer when I drive. If I get sick, I can call someone. If I break down, I can call someone,” Cobb said. “It's a necessity.”

The users are not the only ones receiving government assistance. Telecommunications industry analysts said the program, while in its infancy, could benefit mobile phone carriers, who face a steep challenge of their own: Most Americans already own cell phones, so the poor represent a last untapped market.

Okay statists/liberals/communists/democrats. You are very charitable but tell me this doesn't piss you off. Free cellphones to alcoholic chain-smokers sitting on their ass receiving $8000 a year, and free money going to the CEOs of mobile carriers.