We are now into the fourth day of the FAA shut down. Has anyone noticed?
Planes are still flying. Air traffic control and ground control are considered essential, as are safety inspectors. The impasse has idled about 4000 government workers. No one wants to see anyone lose their job but the funding for the FAA stopped and the world did not end. Americans have the right at this point to ask how many of these employees are really needed? How many other government agencies have a glut of employees who are as unnecessary to running their agency as these are?
The deadlock over this bill is a result of a dispute between Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill. The issue is subsidies to rural airports. The Republicans want to kill those subsidies. The Democrats, yes this will really shock you, want to continue spending.
Here is a clue for the party of bankruptcy. We have something called the free market. It works really well, except when Democrats screw with it. If you eliminate the subsidies for these airports, some things will happen. Airfares may or may not rise from those airports. If there is insufficient demand for flights from those airports, flights will cease. But if there is demand, someone will figure out a way to fill that demand. Perhaps someone will create a shuttle bus line that will take passengers to another airport. Perhaps someone will decide to fly a small charter service to those airports. And if none of those things happen, guess what? It means there was not enough demand and the Democrats were once again blowing tax dollars like drunken Democrats.
The FAA situation is an example of a greater problem. The problem is a phenomenal amount of wasted government spending on projects that the government should never be involved in. This is particularly true at the local level. Sometimes the project is something the local government should arguably be involved in, such as the building of a large downtown library. More often, these projects turn out to be the “signature” item for a Mayor’s legacy. These include building things such as sports stadiums and convention centers.
A convention center is something a government should never be involved in. This is something the private sector handles quite well. Hotels make a large amount of their profit from hosting meetings. Hotel chains build their hotels, plus meeting rooms and convention facilities.
In my hometown of Nashville, a brand new convention center is rising from the middle of downtown. Just a few miles away is the Gaylord Opryland Resort and hotel, which amazingly enough has, convention facilities.
Convention centers turn out to be nothing but white elephants for their cities. Why do they build them? Because you have mayors of large cities, who are all Democrats, who want to blow more of the city’s tax dollars on projects they think will be their “legacy.”
The Tea Party movement needs to not only stand up at the national level to stop insane spending, but we also need to stop the wasteful spending at the local level.
Meanwhile, in the fourth day of the FAA shutdown, the world has not ended. Planes are not falling from the skies and the airlines are reaping a nice windfall, continuing to charge passengers a tax they no longer have to pay.
How long will this go on? How long will it go on before we actually notice an agency is shut down?
Given the track record of the government, we should shut down quite a few more agencies. No one would miss them. |
Tags: congress, democrat, faa, republican, shutdown
Permalink Reply by Michael J. Scott on 
Permalink Reply by Thomas Angle on Permalink Reply by William C. Benedict on 
Permalink Reply by Vern Shotwell on I think it's nice that the FAA is saving us money. Who would know that they are down?
Sure wish they'd take the TSA with them! What a useless group!
The EPA would be nice, too. Sorry, I'm just dreaming, I guess. But a shutdown would be good. Just for a month. Or, a year or two....
Permalink Reply by Darwin Rockantansky on It would be nice to believe that the FAA shutdown is saving us money. Unfortunately, as we all should know from past government shutdowns, the money is not saved - only delayed. Once the issue is resolved, all those "unemployed" FAA employees will be getting one hell of a "catch up" paycheck.
Permalink Reply by Thomas Jones on Permalink Reply by Cathee A. Kehtel on 
Permalink Reply by Dave Newbry on Permalink Reply by clarice davis on Of course not going to stop.......its "too big to fail"....government has made it that way....same with all the other government saved (bought) big businesses....will people as a whole realize this is a government made debacle, again, and again....
2012....please get here....
Permalink Reply by Darwin Rockantansky on 
Permalink Reply by Rich Knoch on Air traffic controllers will be paid, but staff involved in airport safety, construction grant administration and implementation of the Next Generation air traffic control system could be out of work indefinitely.
http://www.impactpub.com.au/aircargo/index.php?option=com_content&a...
Permalink Reply by Dennis Donner on QUICK, CALL THE LIBERALS OUT OF THEIR CAVES
TELL THEM "THE SKY IS NOT FALLING"!
WELL REALLY, WE KNOW MOST OF THEM DON'T BELIEVE THEIR OWN LIES ANYWAY.
THEY'RE MAKING MONEY OFF THE SYSTEM THEY PROMOTE.
THEY WANT PEOPLE TO BE DEPENDENT ON GOVT.
THAT'S HOW THEY GET REELECTED.
© 2013 Created by Judson Phillips.
