Posted on 07/22/2014 4:33:26 PM PDT by Kaslin
You Blew It! TSA Literally Becomes a Joke
“TSA is the gold standard of airline security.”
– John Pistole, director, TSA (Thousands Standing Around)
Last week, roughly 2,000 people joined me for the annual FreedomFest conference in Las Vegas, and it offered an opportunity to poke fun at the TSA, a federal agency that seems to probe and prod a bit too aggressively even when encountering innocent and harmless passengers. We performed a modern-day version of Camelot as our featured entertainment during Saturday evening’s gala and included a humorous scene of Sir Lancelot trying to arrive from France to aid King Arthur but encountering excessive delays in passing through TSA security on his journey.
The audience, consisting of freedom lovers who value liberty, laughed at the folly of a brave knight needing to suffer the indignities of TSA screening before he could help a king. It was easy to laugh Saturday night, but real TSA screening is a royal pain.
I swapped stories with other attendees about going through TSA security lines on our way there. It reminded me of a time last year when I saw a sign from the so-called Transportation Security Administration (TSA) that read “Eight Most Common Reasons for Security Delays.” It warned against putting liquids in carry-ons, failing to take off shoes, etc.
They forgot to list the #1 reason for delays: the TSA itself. The TSA causes long delays by (1) never having enough screening machines for the number of travelers, especially during peak travel hours; and (2) insisting on travelers going through time-consuming body scanners instead of metal detectors – requiring about five times longer to go through the process.
This inefficiency is typical of government compared to private enterprise. It usually takes me only a few minutes these days to check in with the airlines (with some exceptions). There seldom are any delays unless I have to change my flight. Even checking luggage doesn’t take too long anymore.
But the hassle of airline security never seems to improve. Real delays occur at airline security – where I almost always find long lines. Those delays largely are the fault of the TSA. It is typical of government. Whether you need to wait in line at the post office, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for a driver’s license or the IRS office, it involves dealing with government bureaucracy. Compare that lack of consideration to a privately run grocery store or bookstore. When long lines develop in those places, most of the time new check-out clerks are added rather quickly. The market responds! TSA should follow suit. How Even Investment Bulls Can Get a Good Idea from the Bears:
I am bullish on the stock market, but I heard something from a couple of investment bears at the annual FreedomFest conference last week that may point to a new opportunity to earn precious profits.
The annual event just concluded Saturday night in Las Vegas, and one of the panel discussions that I found to be especially valuable was the debate between the bulls and the bears about the future direction of the stock market. Even though the gloom-and-doom stock market forecasters failed to sway me to their side, I found at least one of their ideas worthy of serious consideration.
As a hedge against a possible stock market pullback and the risk of inflation, gold is an alternative asset that you may want to buy. I personally think owning precious metals such as gold and silver coins with a small percentage of your assets is a smart way to diversify your assets generally. But the market’s advance during the past couple of years enhances the appeal of owning precious metals.
Easy-money Fed policies should steer investors away from equities and the U.S. dollar and toward buying gold, as well as the British pound sterling and the euro, money manager Alex Merk advised. Merk, president and chief investment officer of Merk Investments LLC., of Palo Alto, California, explained that the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank’s policies are starting to fuel inflation.
However, the fall in the price of gold last year and rising inflation in the United States are boosting the investment prospects for gold, Merk said. For that reason, Merk launched a new gold exchange-traded fund in May. The Merk Gold Trust (OUNZ) seeks to provide investors with a way to buy gold and have the option of taking physical delivery of the precious metal.
“I like gold because there is too much debt in the world,” Merk said. “Governments such as the United States, Japan and others cannot afford high interest rates.”
Another bearish investor who spoke at the event was Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, based in Westport, Connecticut. Schiff also likes gold as an investment.
“Inflationary policies will create bubbles and not produce real and sustainable economic growth,” Schiff warned.
Improved corporate earnings are a “mirage” and driven by the Fed’s easy-money policies, Schiff cautioned.
“What will bring the party to the end is when the Fed later this year needs to admit it was wrong about the economy, which is not recovering as hoped,” Schiff said.
Official measures of U.S. inflation already are above 2%, Schiff said. The risk is that the Fed will need to respond to prop up the dollar’s value or incur a dollar crisis with runaway inflation, he added.
Alex Green, an investment analyst and author, countered the investment bears by saying that U.S. corporate profits are at an “all-time record high.”
The risk of a bear market can be negated by using stops to protect investment profits, Green said.
In addition, none of the great investors analyzed Fed policy, Green said.
Instead, they searched for companies selling for less than they are worth, held them and profited, said a second bullish speaker, Donald Smith, president and chief investment officer of New York-based Donald Smith & Co. Inc.
Even though I agree with the bulls, I also see merit in the arguments of the bears when it comes to owning some gold. Not only do I like gold coins, but also publicly traded precious metals mining stocks, such as Silver Wheaton (SLW). If inflationary expectations return, the precious metals may be well worth buying.
If you want to hear the full debate between the bulls and the bears or listen to any of the other presentations that took place at FreedomFest, I encourage you to order tapes at www.miracleofamerica.com to gain the benefit of the top-notch speakers who joined me there. I order the full set of tapes each year and listen to them all.
In case you missed it, I encourage you to read my e-letter column from last week about how Wall Street is similar to Las Vegas. I also invite you to comment in the space provided below.
This is more about selling gold than the TSA.
‘you know sams club is owned by walmart, right?’
You might want to reread my post, in it I say that I know it is owned by Walmart.
She isn’t my cashier anymore. I was in sales for roughly 23 years and I detest bad service and will not tolerate it. Most places I go I can tell that the people working there have no idea how to treat a customer. They have never been trained. Takes one time and I do not return.
Problem is, I am running out of places that I will go to. I may be overly sensitive to bad service. Or I may be getting old and cranky. That is very possible too.
This is so true. I was meeting an arival at the Cleveland Airport one day a couple weekends ago. Just an ordinary afternoon with light traffic, but at least twelve (12) TSA agents wandering around. Two were episodically engaged in screening the occasional departure. The rest I swear were walking around in large lazy circles trying to look busy, sometimes stopping to chat with colleagues. Nothing was being done. Nothing. But the smell of burning tax dollars was unmistakeable.
So, how much better do you think they will be after they unionize?
OH...
WAIT.....
Had some stuff to big for my washer to handle. Went to local laundromat, lady met me at the door and pointed to a sign saying no customers after 7:30, I said it is 7:30 on the nose. She said no can do. I said I will never be back and left. They were open till 9:00 and I only needed to wash a couple of comforters. So I went to the other one and got them done, no problem.
I do not know these people, they only recently bought it from the previous owner. I had dealt with the previous owner on and off for years with no problem. I doubt they will be in business very long with their attitude. And they shouldn’t be.
Has anybody ever missed a flight due to the lines at TSA security? I don't think so. TSA employees will thoughtfully bring people to the front who need to board flights that are about to immediately depart, even though those passengers had the discourtesy to arrive late and inconvenienced other passengers who had the foresight to arrive early.
I am a frequent traveller and whenever I arrive, the TSA employees are always beaming and happy to see me. I don't know what it is but maybe it's because I'm usually wearing a business suit and have a positive, clean-cut appearance. As opposed to those who show up in ratty shorts, slippers, bed hair, and a bad attitude. Sometimes I look like Don Draper and I think the TSA people appreciate that.
Never had a hassle going through TSA so I don't know what all the fuss it about. Sometimes they will wave a wand over me but that doesn't bug me at all. Usually I'll use this occasion to crack a joke, such as "if you find anything valuable in there, let me know" and it gets them laughing every time.
I'm thinking if you go into the TSA line dressed like a slob and displaying a less than optimum attitude, you are going to get hassled a bit. To those people, I say get a haircut, put on some decent clothes and put a smile on your face.
I’ve never had them turn off the light with my merchandise on the conveyer. I’ve seen cashiers “Tag team” in or out when someone has to go on break so another takes over the register. On rare occasions I’ve heard them tell customers getting in line that they couldn’t take any more.
I’ve never seen them turn away a customer after the customer already emptied the cart.
Maybe they were related? I would assume a name like Skousen is not very common
Mark is Cleon Skousen’s nephew, per the Wikipedia article.
My intuition was right then.
Well, what are they open for then? Nothing? This bugs me when I show up for a last minute errand which will only take a moment and they "close" 5 minutes early. Or when I've been standing in line at the checkout and the registers are shut off.
It also bugs me when the store uses "closing time" to stop the clock on hourly employees but requires them to hang around while the store is not open.
These issues are of course mostly insignificant. But annoying.
Yes, I did miss a flight at Dulles because of TSA. My family got in the security line at 0600 for a 0735 flight on a Saturday morning. It looked like we were waiting in line for an E-Ticket ride at Disney World in the height of tourist season. We were told something about not scheduling enough agents to come in that early. It took us 2 hours to get through security. Then of course every flight after us was full and it took most of the day to get out.
Years ago...I used to utilize the Ramstein BX (at the base in Germany). We had one particular clerk that would pull roughly 25 hours a week at one of the check-out lanes. The best you could say about “Freddy”....was it took him three times as long as any clerk....to swipe items across the scanner....bag the items....and get your pay situation done. Just walking up with a tube of toothpaste and a bar of soap....which ought to take sixty seconds max to scan, bag and pay (in cash)....turned into a three minute episode. Got twenty items? You can figure roughly twelve minutes to get your purchase done. The BX management? They didn’t care.
At some point, I went to a on-post hotel within Germany and one night had to deal with the front-desk clerk. The guy had to be on medication, and was totally inept at typing. The sign-in process took twenty-two minutes....for fifteen bits of information for the hotel computer system. I even offered to pay in cash....to avoid another five minutes of this dimwit.
The problem is that we’ve turned so many jobs in America in dimwit jobs. TSA, 7-11, bus drivers, hotel clerks, McDonalds, etc. These positions are filled to the top of the line with dysfunctional people....some on drugs....some just naturally dimwitted. You can’t avoid them now. Traveling by air, rail, or bus? You have a fifty-fifty shot of having to deal with one. Buying a Big-Gulp? Same chance with the store clerk. Checking into a cheaper-run hotel? Same chance.
So, we come to my last comparison....we got to the point of even accepting mediocre men for President....believing a marginally qualified guy with no real resume but great speaking talents could do the job. We (enough voters anyway) even accepted that idea. It makes me wonder if the nuke plants are going the same way, and recruiting the bottom tier of workers.
Disagree. It’s either open at 759 or it isn’t.
Exactly. If I were in business, I would want customers.
I remember while in the Navy in the late 70's going through a walk through metal scan and if it sounded getting the wand. The lines moved fast. Domestic attacks via plane were considered a possible threat even during WW2. Up stream of the Manhattan Project at Norris dam were gun placements.
TSA is an abandonment of common sense and a total surrendering of rights and dignity for a false sense of security. If the State Department, Immigration Services, and Intel services, had been doing their job the 9/11 attack would not have happened. Red Flags were everywhere. Political Correctness in our government agencies caused those flags to be ignored.
My last plane ride and I do mean it was my last was back in 1984 onboard a military cargo plane returning from Ft Pickett on a weekend Bivouac for cannon live fire training. I have no reason to fly and if I want to go anywhere requiring an ocean crossing I'll book a room on a freighter or a cruise liner. Otherwise I'll drive but I will not fly. TSA and the airlines have made it as painstakingly difficult as possible.
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