Government Will Use And Abuse You. (Do You Still Think Government Is There To Protect You?)
Here, from the WSJ, was the FAA plotting against citizens for the FAA's benefit vis a vis the sequester furloughs:
"The FAA management has stated in meetings that they need to make the furloughs as hard as possible for the public so that they understand how serious it is."Strategies include encouraging union workers to take the same furlough day to increase congestion. "I am disgusted with everything that I see since the sequester took place," another FAA employee wrote. "Whether in HQ or at the field level it is clear that our management has no intention of managing anything. The only effort that I see is geared towards generating fear and demonstrating failure."
From another WSJ editorial:
Remember when the sequester's spending cuts were going to incite mass uprisings for higher taxes? Instead, Senate Democrats and the White House blinked, not least because the FAA's transparent political strategy was to use incompetent government as a bludgeon on behalf of bigger government. The American public waiting in departure lounges figured this out, which is presumably why the political capitulation is so total.The FAA's all-hands furloughs managed to convert a less than 4% FAA budget cut into a 10% air-traffic control cut that would delay 40% of flights. The 6,700 flights that the FAA threatened to force off schedule every day is twice as many delays as the single worst travel day of 2012.
The Democratic surrender has non-elected liberals in full revolt, claiming Washington somehow bowed to wealthy business travellers--as if the 99% don't save for vacations and two million people aren't in the air every day. Their advice is that the White House should have let the delays mount until Congress also agreed to turn off the entire sequester for low-income housing grants, Meals on Wheels and everything else.
Let us hope for the sake of the poor that other bureaucracies are managing the modest sequester cuts more responsibly than the FAA. But the larger point is that from the beginning the FAA's delays were deliberate and avoidable. The FAA has ample legal discretion to protect core services but chose instead to maximize disruption. It is a sign of the FAA's institutional culture of failure that it can't even sabotage itself successfully.
via @WalterOlson
I'm amused at how many people seem incapable of seeing that the sequester cuts have been targeted by Obama & Co. to provide maximum pain to specific groups.
Elections have consequences.
Robert W. (Vancouver) at April 27, 2013 7:52 AM
Obama, the FAA, unions and all the rest are being petulant children because they didn't get what they want.
They are doing their best to have a disparate impact to the decreased budget increase. They cut
$ 85,000,000,000 out of the $16,000,000,000,000 budget.They digitizing $85B a month. Take a month off.
This just disgusts me.
Jim P. at April 27, 2013 8:32 AM
Sounds like a few FAA nabobs need some firing, pour encourager les autres.
About as likely to happen as me running off with Angelina Jolie, though.
Old RPM Daddy (OldRPMDaddy at GMail dot com) at April 27, 2013 9:46 AM
Yeah, I think blaming the FAA itself is the wrong thing. It seems pretty clear, from the start of the whole sequester bit, that the word has come down from the top (i.e. the Obama administration) to deliberately make cuts that directly effect (i.e. punish) people to try to get people to cry for help and/or agree that gov't needs more money.
Look at how all the cuts effect people vs just being trimming excess. Tours at the WH but the staff is all still there. All the military publicity stuff: fleet week, air shows, etc. That, while clearly not critical, are the things that most civilians see directly from the military. Hear how Obama and his people constantly talk about how horrible the sequester is and how it's only hurting the elderly, kids, firefighters, police, teachers... things the federal gov't doesn't actually fund directly in most cases.
The FAA bit with controllers was the first thing to start to have a very measurable effect that _really_ pissed people off, so I think the republicans pushing to fix that bit, and how the dems are suddenly calling for a more general fix (despite not passing any budgets in years) just helps show people how screwed up things are.
There are several articles out there pointing out that even if the furlough were really required, that it causing delays is a load of crap anyway. Here's just one at forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2013/03/25/sequester-scaremongers-caught-red-handed-on-air-controller-cuts/
with bits like:
Miguelitosd at April 27, 2013 3:35 PM
"Obama, the FAA, unions and all the rest are being petulant children because they didn't get what they want."
And it totally worked. Lesson learned: Responsible management of budget is not the smart way to play the game.
Cousin Dave at April 29, 2013 8:17 AM
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