In 2010, King County Council member Reagan Dunn was a conflicted man. Driven by his Inner Socialist, he huffed and puffed and took his ball and went home after the King County council considered sequestration cuts that would hit the Sheriff’s office. At the same time, his Inner Teabagger adamantly opposed new taxes, or even putting a tax measure on the ballot to let the voters decide.
In other words, “gimme my Gov’ment funded security, but keep your bloody hands off my money!”
Well now, thanks to sequestration cuts, Mr. Dunn’s inner Socialist has reared its ugly little head again:
“This airport is critically important to King County and the region,” said Dunn. “Congress must act and guarantee that the Renton Municipal Airport and others like it have the needed funding to operate fully and continue contributing to the local economy.”
Dunn joined his comrades, Council member Julia Patterson and King County Sheriff John Urquhart, in writing a letter to Congress stressing the importance of Big Government sponsored airport infrastructure, and its value to the local economy.
Wait…isn’t this a job for local governments? Aren’t they in a better position to understand the local needs? Or, better yet, can’t the Free Market fix this along with everything else it has on it’s To Do list? Surely the sequestration cuts will lead to a booming economy sowing magic beans that sprout into new private sector infrastructure to fill the void left by Shrinking Government, right?
Apparently not. Reagan wants his Big Government funded infrastructure. But don’t count out Reagan inner Teabagger just yet—we have yet to learn how Mr. Dunn wants the Feds to fund the Renton air traffic controllers….
Since I don’t use the Renton Municipal airport, I’m okay with them using the free market to pay for the air craft controllers, i.e., let the lowest bid win. And if they air craft controllers want to leverage their value, capitalist style, they could demand prepayment of bonuses from incoming aircraft.
This is the free market, capitalist system at work. When an aircraft is on final approach, that is a great time to squeeze out some profit. The pilot can either give up his credit card number to guarantee a safe landing, or he can take his chances dodging dumpsters and other obstructions that may find their way onto the runway.
As I recall, the safety of the old Soviet system ain’t all that great, compared to the more capitalistic, freer-market countries.
Be careful what you wish for, because you may get it!
““This airport is critically important to King County and the region,”
Said every politico about every airport that faced loosing air traffic controllers do to budget cuts. Funny how it’s easy to call for cuts, but they bawl like a baby when the cuts actually come.
The same crap’s been said about the Tacoma Narrows Airport. But, honestly, we don’t need the airport and I hope it closes soon. The TNA looses money hand over fist, is noisy, and the land it’s on would be better off being used for light industry and a park.
Ten Years After,
“As I recall, the safety of the old Soviet system ain’t all that great, compared to the more capitalistic, freer-market countries.”
WRONG!
One little problem with your little fantasy “theory”: All countries have socialized air traffic control infrastructure.
In fact, what makes the U.S. system so safe (relative to the old Soviet system) is a far greater degree of government safety regulation. The U.S. system serves as the model for the rest of the world.
Thanks for playing anyway.
@4
Applying Libertarian principles to the problem, it should be done by whoever thinks they can make a profit doing it; if there is no profit to be made, then there is no value to society in doing it.
I call again for air traffic control to be freed of the shackles of government and turned over to private enterprise. Let someone make a business of it and do it right.
Tempest In A Teapot Dep’t
Well, waddya know, it turns out those IRS agents were just doing their job.
“But a close examination of these groups and others reveals an array of election activities that tax experts and former I.R.S. officials said would provide a legitimate basis for flagging them for closer review.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05.....wanted=all
Roger Rabbit Commentary: This is just business-as-usual for the GOP, namely, ginning up a phony “scandal” to get out of doing their jobs.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100767526
Darryl — fyi “sewing” is what you do with cloth, and “sowing” is what you do with magic beans.
” … we have yet to learn how Mr. Dunn wants the Feds to fund the Renton air traffic controllers….”
By repealing Obamacare, of course.
@2 http://tinyurl.com/8a38khg
Off hand, was the old soviet system any thing like say the socialist systems of Finland, Sweden and Denmark?
8 thats funny
Another crazy person obtained “an assault-style rifle, a handgun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition,” with predictable results.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_new.....-room?lite
My oh my, the DJIA is up 200 points and I’m making another $3,500 of FREE MONEY while sitting here on my furry ass posting on HA, meanwhile bridges are falling down and Republicans are talking about cutting off food stamps to millions of hungry Americans. Capitalism is out of control.
Satellite photo of capitalist gulag:
http://tinyurl.com/o9qv4u4
@3 Tacoma Narrows Airport doesn’t have brand new 737’s flying out of it, nor (to my recollection) is it being rapidly surrounded by high-density housing and other commercial development.
# 15: I never have figured out how a 737 flys out of Renton Airport and lands at Boeing Field. I assume they have to reach minimum altitude in some other direction, then loop around and do their landing approach to Boeing Field. I’ve wanted to ask one of the Boeing pilots, but I haven’t had the opportunity to do so.
@0 Darryl
Hmm… We can’t raise taxes, and we can’t de-sequestrationize, since that would be something we can’t fool bozo voters into believing isn’t more Republican-sponsored Big Government. Ok, I have an idea that would pass tea-bagger logic: Let’s cut a federal program and use the savings to fund the Renton tower. Let’s cut the freakin’ FAA budget to do it!
Yea! Yippie! Ya-hoo! Problems solved! See? It is soooo simple!!