You literally do not need internet access and/or a cell phone on a daily basis. Do you need access to a phone? Sure. Do you need access to the internet? Sure. But it is not life and death if you have a landline and go to the library to use the computer.

It's all from the playbook to demonize those who are less fortunate.

Not everybody who is struggling is doing so because they recklessly live beyond their means. To suggest otherwise, like Mr. Chaffetz did with his dog whistle, is insulting and ignorant.

The federal government disagrees with this statement. That's just a fact.

Also a landline is a terrible investment in 2017. People are better of with an internet connection and using VOIP.

You have said this a couple times. Can you clarify? You seem to make it sound as if the IRS gives approval and allows some sort of deduction for home internet and cell phone costs.

Imagine someone comes in for a job interview. On their resume, it doesn't have an email address and it doesn't have a phone number. You ask them and they say that they don't have email or a phone. What are the odds you hire that person?

I don't like white rappers.

I'd list a home phone.

Don't you think in the least that having a cell phone has made us too connected?

I'd list a home phone.

Don't you think in the least that having a cell phone has made us too connected?

A home phone is more expensive than a cell phone with less features.

I don't like white rappers.

Again, he used cell phones as an example, but I think he is right that it is simply an example, and a microcosm, of how people blur what is a mandatory and discretionary expense. If you are unable to afford health insurance, you need to make cuts and you can just as easily get a very cheap smartphone. Having an iPhone is not mandatory. Similarly, I know I need to spend money to improve my house. I haven't overspent to upgrade and design, so it looks kind of shitty inside, but I instead used that money for key items like a furnace, roof and capping. Because I know keeping my house is mandatory, we don't take vacations every year, and the one we do take is all written off as a business expense. I can prioritize the difference between mandatory and discretionary. Many can't.

A home phone is now like a typewriter or a record player.

A home phone is more expensive than a cell phone with less features.

I don't like white rappers.

This is about what most can use to do everything on a budget...

https://www.walmart.com/ip/TracFone-ZTE ... e/51413982

You can get an iphone basically for free now.

I don't like white rappers.

healthcare (not necessarily affordable access).

"So rather than getting that new health care plan that they just love and want to go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest in modern communication tools, like smartphones, so they can be better job hunters."
"They've got to make those decisions themselves," Dipshit added.

For you, maybe.

I pay $30 a month for the home phone and it can be used by all family members. I also have three laptops which serve all the functionality of the smartphones I pay for.

I pay $180 for three cell lines and data. My daughter uses it for NetFlix and texting. My wife uses it for texting and candy crush. Are those the big pluses?

You can get an iphone basically for free now.

I am not a legal expert, how many times do I have to say it?

You can get an iphone basically for free now.

I don't like white rappers.

What are the data rates?

For you, maybe.

I pay $30 a month for the home phone and it can be used by all family members. I also have three laptops which serve all the functionality of the smartphones I pay for.

I pay $180 for three cell lines and data. My daughter uses it for NetFlix and texting. My wife uses it for texting and candy crush. Are those the big pluses?

That free phone is built into the rates you pay monthly I would guess.

My wife doesn't trust VOIP. Yes, I know she is wrong, but she doesn't. She is worried about the power going out. Also, the call quality she experienced with it was shit. Finally, UVerse is completely unstable at my house so it would drive me nuts when I couldn't get a call that I actually needed.

$30 a month? That seems low for a land line unless it is local only and that is a waste.

I don't like white rappers.

I got into a discussion with an older gentlemen when I first entered the workforce after finishing my undergrad work. It was the mid-90's, and he said people are just losing ground every day. I went home and thought about it. And even back then you could see all the money people were spending that wasn't being spent in the 1960's:

Cable bills
Eating out regularly
Multiple tvs
Computers
Expensive gas and long commutes
Nearly everyone owns two cars
Houses that are much larger

Fast forward to today, and we've added things like:
High speed internet
Cell phones bills with the accompanying phone costs
Silly levels of medical costs. Just the sheer numbers of meds being consumed and the advancement in procedures
College tuition is both more expensive and widely used
Toll roads?

So while it is a shame that the middle class has stagnated and even regressed, many of the reasons are obvious. The average middle class person has more material wealth, while clearly being in a more precarious financial position. It doesn't mean we shouldn't try to solve declining social mobility and the massive wealth gap. But it's not as simple as, "things are worse today."

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

For the record I never said this.

I made my point as globally as possible. It does not even need to be about cell phones to see that people today have different views or wants versus needs.

This is as true for people with money as without. We all can probably recall a story of a median or above salaried relative or neighbor complaining they have no extra money. That while they are choking on the payment to two leased Audi's they do not need in the driveway of the house with 5 bedrooms and 4 baths.