Calling a 900 Number costs at least one dollar per minute, and very few callers can resist talking for a minute or less. As a matter of fact, in many cases, the people on the other end (for instance, on the party lines) are actors or actresses specially trained to keep people who call in talking for as long as possible. Naturally, any phone line which costs an astronomical amount per minute or for conversation is bound to attract crooks, con artists, and all around sleazy groups and individuals.
It wouldn't surprise me if all the sleazy and potentially sleazy groups and individuals get in on the action. I could imagine people and/or groups such as the CIA, indicted or convicted members of the Reagan administration, unindicted members of the Dubya Bush administration, tv evangelists, organized crime and religion, and many others all establishing nine hundred number lines to exploit the public. (to be cont'd)
[Note: The original version of this essay first appeared in Eastern Connecticut State University's Campus Lantern student newspaper in the early '90s and was later part of my unpublished manuscript "In Mediocrity We Trust... In Debt We Die" And Other Essays.]
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