Poor people should not have smartphones, according to....

[Faenskap]

I don't live in America, but good luck getting by without a PC/phone. No one will accept your hand-written CV, governmental services are accessed online. I'm falling behind too, with my Nokia Lumia that I've had 4 years, because it's a Windows Phone which doesn't have many apps, like an app for buying bus tickets. Fuck me, because if you pay with cash on a bus or train these in Norway, it's close to double the price compared to paying through the app.

Of course, a better soloution to help the working poor and poor to make sure they can have access to medical services like the human beings that they are, politicians can have their salaries reduced, but we can't have that, can we?

[zenkai]

I don't live in America, but good luck getting by without a PC/phone. No one will accept your hand-written CV, governmental services are accessed online. I'm falling behind too, with my Nokia Lumia that I've had 4 years, because it's a Windows Phone which doesn't have many apps, like an app for buying bus tickets. Fuck me, because if you pay with cash on a bus or train these in Norway, it's close to double the price compared to paying through the app.

Of course, a better soloution to help the working poor and poor to make sure they can have access to medical services like the human beings that they are, politicians can have their salaries reduced, but we can't have that, can we?

He said iphone, not smartphone as the OP had fucked up the title. There are plenty of cheaper smartphones that are way less than running out and buying the new iphone.

[Everwake]

If you actually read his quote, you'll see that his point is that people should stop wasting money on luxury items over health coverage.

[Sliske]

If your phone contract is 20-25% of your total income (jobseekers roughly £240 / month) you're abusing the system.

You don't need your phone to look good when you're texting your girlfriends. £30-50 will buy you a smart phone that can text / call / take pictures / use the internet.

[Holofernes]

As I specifically said, yes, a last model IPhone would be a luxury. A smartphone in general is hardly a luxury item in 2017, as this is the cheapest way to have access to Internet.

Iphone is VERY luxus. windows phone, samsung or huawei would be normal version, iphone is the double the cost for same function luxus variant.

the price difference is like 600- 700 euros, enough money to pay rent and buy food for a month at least.

[unbound]

http://gizmodo.com/top-republican-sa...pho-1793036589

Personally, I would dearly like to know how someone in the entire Western world can live in 2017 and have a vague hope of life improvement without some kind of internet access , as a smartphone or computer are not exactly luxury goods.

(Yes,ty for pointing out that there are cheapter smartphone than the IPhone, thanks)

The biggest problem with his statement is that it is false equivalence. Picking up an iPhone every couple of years is pocket change compared to paying for health care. The simple reality is that the poor can't afford health care in this country. Hence the ACA had to provide subsidies.

Furthermore, it is an expectation that people have smartphones anymore. Many of the poor with smartphones have older, cheaper smartphones and no landline at this point.

Overall, Chaffetz is a mean-spirited idiot. The morale thing to do is to help all US citizens. Continuing to fight minimum wage increases while fighting against reasonably priced health coverage for all is a double whammy...and is about as immoral as someone can get.

[Aoyi]

My smart phone costs me $40 a month built in to my plan. My insurance costs me $401.01 a month. That means my smart phone costs juuuuust under 10% of my healthcare costs. Oh, and that's for single coverage. Not a family plan. And it has a $2000 deductible too. This is just another example of talking point politics. Politicians come up with phrases they can easily repeat. They don't have to be logical as long as it sounds vaguely ok to their base. They repeat it over and over (true or not) and people start repeating them.

[Draco-Onis]

Iphone is VERY luxus. windows phone, samsung or huawei would be normal version, iphone is the double the cost for same function luxus variant.

the price difference is like 600- 700 euros, enough money to pay rent and buy food for a month at least.

Actually there are still 2 year contracts available for free phone including an Iphone but you have to go to a third party like a best buy or something.

[Holofernes]

a new iphone 7 is 1100 euro in my country. its like 1400 dollar, and poor people dont get mobile phone contracts at all, they have to use prepaid. U have no idea about what u are talking about. If u able to get a regular phone contract, u are not poor.

[Vizardlorde]

I seriously doubt that there's any significant number of truly poor people going out and paying full retail value for a brand new model.

Phone companies have payment plans where you get these phones for a relatively small amount each month, and that's how these people have them.

You are underestimating the power of peer pressure and stupidity. And no my sister is not the only one among their friends who has done this while working a part time at Skechers at least her Iphone hasn't fallen in the toilet yet while taking silly pictures for snapchat.

[Deleted]

Flip phone here even though I can afford any of the smart phones out there. No reason to pay for shit you don't need and to pretend that people actually need a smart phone to exist is fucking hilarious. Then again this is a sarah thread. GG to that.

And yet, here you are on the internet, missing the point that you couldn't be on the internet without some form of device with which to use it.

[Deletedaccount1]

a new iphone 7 is 1100 euro in my country. its like 1400 dollar, and poor people dont get mobile phone contracts at all, they have to use prepaid. U have no idea about what u are talking about. If u able to get a regular phone contract, u are not poor.

Plenty of people in the States who are poor have new iPhones. It is easy to forget but Americans owe over $1 trillion collectively in credit card debt. It is not uncommon to find families with kids who are tens of thousands of dollars behind on their bills but not cutting back on their spending out of fear of an austere lifestyle, their image or giving their kids a bad life.

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I don't live in America, but good luck getting by without a PC/phone. No one will accept your hand-written CV, governmental services are accessed online.

That's why internet cafes, libraries or government buildings with public computers exist.

[zenkai]

Actually there are still 2 year contracts available for free phone including an Iphone but you have to go to a third party like a best buy or something.

Ugh, that phone isn't free, you're actually financing your phone. I use a pay what you use phone service that uses Sprint network, my average phone bill with phone was $26 a month, but I have to buy my own phone. Or I could pay sprint $90 a month and get a new iphone after I spend additional $200, do the math, that's why I switched. These days I think they are doing away with plans and have you lease the phone, which means you don't own it so if you break it, you buy it.

[Tikaru]

Ugh, that phone isn't free, you're actually financing your phone. I use a pay what you use phone service that uses Sprint network, my average phone bill with phone was $26 a month, but I have to buy my own phone. Or I could pay sprint $90 a month and get a new iphone after I spend additional $200, do the math, that's why I switched. These days I think they are doing away with plans and have you lease the phone, which means you don't own it so if you break it, you buy it.

Most US carriers are just financing the phone over a (usually) 24 month period, IIR they don't charge any interest. You can put money down when you sign up, reducing your monthly payment.

Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile also frequently offer BOGO offers as well, which is great for families or couples. The catch is that each month you still see the monthly payment for the cost of the phone, but you also get a credit for it making it "free". If you leave the carrier, you have to pay the remaining balance. For example, my wife and I took advantage of a BOGO promotion when the Galaxy S7 was released last year, if we left AT&T for Verizon/T-Mobile, we would have to pay the remaining balance of $300-ish.

Contracts with a subsidized phone are becoming quite rare, I'm pretty sure that the four big carriers (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint) no longer offer contracts.

Still, between BOGO offers, "free" offers (T-Mobile has an offer requiring trading in an iPhone 6 or newer or a Galaxy S7 for a "free" iPhone 7), buying previous generation iPhones, or even ebay/craigslist, it's not as expensive to get an iPhone as Jason Chaffetz makes it seem.

[Draco-Onis]

Ugh, that phone isn't free, you're actually financing your phone. I use a pay what you use phone service that uses Sprint network, my average phone bill with phone was $26 a month, but I have to buy my own phone. Or I could pay sprint $90 a month and get a new iphone after I spend additional $200, do the math, that's why I switched. These days I think they are doing away with plans and have you lease the phone, which means you don't own it so if you break it, you buy it.

Not sure about sprint but with verizon the difference is about $10 / month or something, I am not saying it's the best but for people who do not want to spend the upfront money on a phone it is an option.

[ItachiZaku]

I rather agree with the article. My phone bill is roughly the same as the health care taken out of my check each month (if you also add in the cost of the phone over that span if you are smart and trade in for max benefit when upgrading).

People don't need iphones or droids, just a basic phone. Nope, the millenials have to have their new toys.

[W1sp]

I'm currently working part time at telia, a legroom in Sweden and I just wanna say that atleast in our company you get the phone for free/ way cheaper if you get a 24 month contract that says you are gonna use the service e for 24 months, if they wish to pay for the phone upfront the can do that still with the low red price or we just take the lowered price and divide it by 24 and add it to the contract without interest. And to the people calling smartphones luxury goods. An iPhone is a luxury good on that we can agree but you can get a huawei y6 II compact with a cell plan for 199kr per month with unlimited calls texts and 1gig of data, compared to getting WiFi in your house etc that is way cheaper so I would say a smartphone is a necessity for the poor to get out of poverty.

[ati87]

Plenty of people in the States who are poor have new iPhones. It is easy to forget but Americans owe over $1 trillion collectively in credit card debt. It is not uncommon to find families with kids who are tens of thousands of dollars behind on their bills but not cutting back on their spending out of fear of an austere lifestyle, their image or giving their kids a bad life.

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That's why internet cafes, libraries or government buildings with public computers exist.

Strawman argument, who says that the ''poor'' are buying goods that they can't afford instead of things like healthcare?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...d-their-money/

Smarthphones are in some ways a good investment and since the Iphone for example doesn't have a large marketshare so that argument goes down the drain as well.

maybe people should come up with at least a little bit of proof before they start making blaming people.

[Tikaru]

I rather agree with the article. My phone bill is roughly the same as the health care taken out of my check each month (if you also add in the cost of the phone over that span if you are smart and trade in for max benefit when upgrading).

People don't need iphones or droids, just a basic phone. Nope, the millenials have to have their new toys.

That sounds wonderful if you're single and over the age of 40.

Edit:

How is your phone bill the same as your health care? How many phone lines do you have? Does your health care only cover the cost of a bottle of aspirin?

[Deleted]

Yes, in 2017, a phone, an email, and a internet connection are pretty much a requirement for any job. A smartphone (not an IPhone) is the cheapest way to get all those three.

Any sensible job that requires a phone, will give their employers a phone...