https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2017/06/05/us/politics/05reuters-usa-trump-infrastructure.html?_r=0 Looked and looked, and found no conversation about this yet. It's not super exciting national policy like healthcare reform, tax reform, or immigration reform, but I think this should happen. It might be the best idea Trump has ever had, though that's probably because it's not his idea at all but an industry-lobbyist-written idea that has been bouncing around Washington for two forevers. But whatever. It won't change the world but it's a good idea and we should do it. It'd be too bad if the Democrats oppose it just because Trump is for it -- though after 8 years of Republican obstruction, I won't fault them if they do.
How will it effect the consumer? If I can get round trip to Denver, Cali or Florida for under $100 #4MoreYears lol
I have to admit I don't know much about the pros and cons of this move. A neighbor is an air traffic controller so I will get his reaction at church on Sunday. One thing that I really don't understand... if the idea is to "privatize" it, why are they spinning them off to become a "non-profit" private enterprise? What's the pros and cons of this part?
I am not familiar with this at all, but I think if you have a for profit air traffic control, they can pretty much charge whatever they want, are the airlines going to say no to them?
I'm interested to learn more about this, but I will tell you as someone whose brother has served in the Marines for 15 years in air traffic control I do have some concerns. Not just because of the fact that airfare could potentially get more expensive. The FAA regulations for these jobs is incredibly intense for good reasons. To the point where my brother had to step aside and go into training new recruits because his cholesterol was a bit high. What does this do in terms of the FAA, and the quality of the recruits coming through the system. Which most of these folks are coming from the military where they are trained to deal with high stress situations. Also how many people really work in the Air Traffic Control industry? My brother had to go through months of screening and testing on IQ, and was in the 5 to 7% of recruits that actually made it through to the next round of training. Meaning... is there really that high of a demand for air traffic controllers when such a small few are even allowed to get the job in the military? Lastly, I'm worried this is just another one of those "save the coal" type of initiatives where its a big bright banner he's using where it really impacts a small few amount of people. I'm also worried that it could hurt folks in the military wanting to get a job after they finish their terms. Are they still going to get first pick of the FAA jobs that come available or will this hurt veterans needing work after serving. I assume it probably won't matter because private airport companies that would take over I'm assuming would probably still look at these experienced military vets would be first choice anyways to get jobs in air traffic control jobs.
When you start talking about privatization , the implication is that the focus will shift to profit. After all , that's the definition of a private firm. I don't particularly think air traffic control is doing a bad job. Delays are caused by a number of exogenous factors not chief among them is the role of air traffic control. I'm not convinced privatizing control is going to increase efficiency. And if it does , it will be at the cost of reducing protocols that are in place to minimize accidents . In the eyes of a profit maximizing firm , accidents are represented as costs and a decision will be made using a cost-benefit framework.
I just thought of a brilliant idea, let's privatize the military and police! That should save a ton of money right?
That's Reagan's greatest accomplishment Edit: His real accomplishment was lowering income taxes. My mother was a registered nurse. She was paying like 60% prior 1980 She voted for Reagan in 80 because of taxes
Inevitably they will probably cut corners until there are too many crashes. Some things just don't work well when maximizing profit every quarter. It was a famous event as it signalled that he would be against unions. Many of today's Trumpsters don't realize it, but this along with the Clintons and NAFTA is responsible for them being pissed off as their incomes have not gone up since 1980.
Glynch I remeber you posting about a mentally ill relative put out cause of Reagan policy My mother and uncles had to take care of a brother also I don't really know what to say about all that
It sounds like the model being used is Nav Canada, so research on that would probably yield the most useful information on how it would affect the American system.
Flight control was like the auto union with no numbers Not a skilled trade and no numbers No leverage
Maybe I'm less suspicious because I work in an industry -- utilities -- with a non-profit corporation making it work. In electricity, you have Independent Service Operators -- ERCOT in Texas -- that handle the operations of keeping the grid going. It's a nonprofit because it has natural monopoly characteristics. You want them to earn enough to run a gold-plated high-reliability operation, but not take any more money than is needed. And you want the regulator to maintain oversight. For the air traffic controllers, I like that they'd be free from the dysfunction of government. You wouldn't have politicians intervening in investment decisions. You wouldn't have government shutdowns creating crises. FAA should still have oversight (I don't know what Trump's plan envisions there), but industry players would be making the decisions instead, and be the ones paying for it. I think the objections I've heard don't make sense to me, except maybe the empowerment of the big airline companies at the expense of other stakeholders. That can be addressed by smart policymaking though and shouldn't be the death of the whole idea.
Yep my brother was thrown off ss disability due to Reagan when they did a quicky review ans threw off half the people who were receiving bendfits. He tried to kill himself after another failed attempt to hold a job.. By sheer luck he survived and was eventually put back on. Smiley Ronnie's plans were eventually thwarted due to a 20-20 or was it 60 Minutes program in which they had a half dozen or so 100% legit suicide notes by folks thrown off who did kill themselves so their kids would receive their survivor's benefits. I mentioned this to a Repuplican one time in real life and he told me:" Oh there was a loop hole". Randy Paul said a number of months before he ran for President that he thought about half he folks on disability aren't deserving. IIRC corectly the recent Trump budget calls for reducing the amount spent on SS Disability. No point in showing what heartless bastards are as these folks cannot be shamed.
At some point government jobs will have to get in line with the rest of the work force I started the thread on the fire fighter situation because they seem not to understand global economics are forcing decreases everywhere At some point everyone is competing for your job
Trump never disappoints. Nothing actually happened today. It was basically a fake bill signing ceremony where Trump regurgitated talking points from prior failed attempts to push privatization. All he did was outline "principles" for what he would like to see happen masked as some sort of signing-of-a-bill achievement, since he's so concerned about image and optics. And not that I'm surprised that he would intentionally lie or deceive, but contrary to what you heard today: anytime you experience a delay while flying it's actually not necessarily air traffic control's fault. It doesn't matter who is running ATC, hazardous weather isn't going to go away nor are the weekly airline computer glitches and meltdowns that hamper the process. Plus, Moses could be in charge of running ATC and you're still going to be #20 for departure out of JFK at 5 pm on a weeknight. It is what it is.
Privatization in government is usually about giving an option There are no choices at airports This serves no real purpose
