Posted on 06/11/2017 8:12:36 AM PDT by Olog-hai
Sen. Charles Schumer says President Donald Trump’s plan to privatize the nation’s air traffic control system could mean higher costs for consumers.
The New York Democrat and Senate minority leader said Sunday that the plan Trump announced on June 5 would give airlines too much control over costs.
He also said that during any national security emergency, privatization could hamper communication between air traffic controllers and the Department of Defense. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
That figures, the Dumnicrats, especaly the Boss Hogg ones, want GoberMent (I.E. ONLY THEM), only them, of everything.
Actually it would mean that the union support and dollars for Shumer and the other rats would dry up.
Hell, if President Trump offered the Senate a raise, Schumer would reject it....
Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!
First of all it's 'Trump's' plan;
Second - it shrinks government; and
Third -sChMukie Schumer is too stupid to realize that it reduces our obligations, both in payroll and equipment, and it reduces future retirement funding because that would be the responsibility of the private company, NOT the government.
One of the many
I think Schumer opposes every breath the President takes.
Shmucky is a JINO (Jewish in Name Only), and JINOs are opposed to any Messiah that isn't their own, or perhaps more accurately, any Messiah at all, because liberalism is their true religion. Oh... and need I add, party politics?
What else do we expect from flat-earther schumer and fellow demoncrats?
Exactly. Gotta preserve those government UNION jobs.
(this post will make me a lot of friends)
My observations about ‘privatizing’ ATC is as follows:
1) Socialist governments in Canada and Europe have used privatization to ‘prove’ that they too believe in capitalism...as if handing over control of that asset to a well-connected crony company is capitalism.
2) The countries with privatization have literally wiped out general aviation (at least at the lower levels, not at the Gulfstream / Learjet levels). Why? Because if it costs $50 to talk to a controller to land at an airport, it’s still in the noise for the big operators but is a very high cost for a private person, especially when they have to talk to controllers multiple times on a flight - such as in bad weather.
So the privates are forced off the grid. If we want to do that, then fine, let’s have THAT discussion...it’s fair game. Get the little guys out, and government-run Air Traffic Control would have huge amounts of freed up resources and might be able to keep up with technology much better. The FAA is required by law to treat all air traffic the same, and not charge for services...there is no example of a ‘private’ ATC operation ‘giving away’ its services.
But it’s silly to think just handing off the task to a crony would solve the problems because it’s no longer government - the problems will likely get solved mainly because private aviation will be effectively wiped out by the handover (one of the reasons airlines push this so hard). Again, if we want to have that discussion...let’s have it.
Anyway, I’m no fan of Schumer, nor any of the Dems, to say the least. But I do think it’s reasonable to have an open debate here.
And if you guys don’t because it’s Schumer - consider something that Trump DID NOT SAY this week, but did float in the recent past...which is allowing states to set up tolling on Interstates. If Schumer came out against tolling on Interstates, would we here all be DEMANDING that Interstates be tolled?
False dilemma when all private operation is presumed to be “cronies” (per Lenin’s New Economic Policy). With all due respect.
And I have no problem with genuine private-sector road tolling.
“If President Trump asked congress to appropriate $10. to cure cancer, Schumer would immediately announce his opposition to it”.
That’s right. Schumer would say it would put Doctors and Nurses out of work.
You do understand that genuine private sector tolling cannot exist for roadways, due to monopolies on rights of way.
In other words, 10 airlines fly between New York and Chicago and compete on a near-equal level...do we have 10 parallel highways doing the same, so that we can choose the one with the lowest price? Does any country? It’s difficult to imagine 40+ concrete lanes between NY and Chicago (10 highways), when only 6 or so are needed.
Bottom line...surface travel will always be in the hands of government...either directly or indirectly through companies that they choose. Same with ATC.
And yes, it is ALWAYS cronies. We dealt with that non-stop during the last decade in Texas, when Governor Perry’s Highway Department chief (Williamson) came over directly from Cintra (a major toll road operator)...and immediately demanded that toll booths be set up on 3 sections of I-10.
FWIW, I spoke w/ one of my Gen-Av buds this past week who was for it since he knows of some privatized towers, and he hears any issues of hardware, software,and systems such as ILS, if they have a failure it is fixed right away vs months of waiting for procurement paperwork to get done.
Shade in the summer, warmth in the winter/
I work in a job where I hear a lot of pilot complaints.
I agree...General Aviation could be carved out of a privatization plan...but it’s still a slippery slope, as the carve out will quickly vanish once another Obama takes over. Kind of like saying that all guns other than semi-automatic handguns need to be registered...and we FReepers go away thinking that we our prime line of defense is safe. The problem, of course, is that last step is very easy and quick to do, as all of the infrastructure is in place, with the bugs out...one stroke of the pen.
Procurement reform is not a hard problem to solve...if we want to (and it’s something that extends well beyond the FAA and well into the private sector, for that matter). It’s very simple, set relatively high levels for authorization by lower-level employees. For example, maybe $1000 for the lowest person, and $20,000 for his first-line manager, etc. Then audit...if unjustified, hold that person financially and legally responsible for the money.
I know of a company that went in the opposite direction and it nearly killed them...but there’s no reason it can’t be done both by government and the private sector...and it fits right up Trump’s alley.
He obviously has no idea how that communication takes place. Completely grasping at straws.
I'm retired after 31 years with Verizonbusiness (formerly MCI, then WorldCom). As a senior technician I was well aware that in a national emergency we would have been placed under national control.
Notwithstanding that, I was proud that I was able to work seemingly endless overtime hours after 9/11 to get American Express back in service with emergency reroutes when they were forced to evacuate their headquarters.
Sen. Charles Schumer needs to have a few more drinks with old moneybag’s boring son...
Hey Chuckie - Soros’s son wants to hang out with you for the rest of your life...
“Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.” (German original omits “communication”.So I have no problem opposing state monopolies of transportation infrastructure. The left was always out to centralize the railroads due to their independence and success as fully private concerns; they almost succeeded when Woodrow Wilson took over all the railroads under the USRA (reversed by his successor), they almost succeeded again when they regulated and taxed the railroads out of business after WWII as well as “competed” with them via their monopoly on road and air, resulting in Amtrak and Conrail; and they are almost succeeding again even in spite of deregulation on the rail freight side (we are down to just five Class 1 railroads these days, down from about 127 in 1950 and about 40 in 1980). Please try to refrain from proof by assertion, with all due respect.
I read that there are Republicans who do too. Without Republican support, he won’t get it through.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.