Go TSA

smigaldi said:
95+% of the American population was screaming for government to do something. Well they did what you asked.
Click to expand...

Last I heard, there were over 20,000,000 (million) federal government employees, not counting the military or pseudo government operations that employ millions more, like the postal service, Spa Wars, and thousands of research and development labs who's only source of income is from the Federal government.

This does not include the millions of people employed by the states and city, county governments.

My guess, and it is just a guess, is that well over half of all working Americans would not have an income if the government stopped paying.

You bet 95% of Americans wanted more government jobs to open up. Those jobs are the plummest jobs you can find, fat checks, great retirement, about 25% of the work year off for one reason or another, pay included, cheap or free medical, etc.

When you remove all the government employees, and all the people who work for a company that would not exist without government contracts, from the work force. Then all the people who will not, or can not, work for one reason or another, there are probably not enough left to fill a bus.

It's a good thing all those government employees pay taxes, otherwise, how could we afford them?

John
 
Last edited:
SCCutler said:
Appreciate the wink- it's hard to talk when folks attack the messenger instead of the message, isn't it?




Scott, not disagreeing with you at all. The things you cite are generally within the (very modest) list of things which government does relatively well, and which are (by the way) inherently governmental in nature- and nothing I wrote disparages good faith well-executed government agencies.

You may also note that, in general, the higher you get in government, the less effective government is, and this is not particularly surprising, since it is tougher for a local bureaucrat, or his/her politician boss, to hide from the constituent, when they live within a few blocks or miles.

But doing things well, and doing things efficiently, are vastly different concepts, and history has shown us, time and again, that governments are simply not efficient administrators of enterprises of any kind.

There are things that they simply must do (you cite some excellent examples above, and I don't think I want to see border protection or national defense subbed-out to Blackwater), and while you will always strive for efficiency in them, you will get what you will get, and you will accept it because the consequences of doing without are vastly worse.
Click to expand...

How is private space exploration going? Is it as efficient as government?

How is that Internet you are using working? That was a pure government program that grew and grew, then was finally picked up by the private sector only a few years ago. In fact when it comes to basic research, be it drug development, exploration, advanced technology no one but the government does it as efficiently.

My point is that it not fair to paint government with such a broad brush.
 
smigaldi said:
How is private space exploration going? Is it as efficient as government?

How is that Internet you are using working? That was a pure government program that grew and grew, then was finally picked up by the private sector only a few years ago. In fact when it comes to basic research, be it drug development, exploration, advanced technology no one but the government does it as efficiently.

My point is that it not fair to paint government with such a broad brush.
Click to expand...

Scott... you know that generalizations are just that. The key dynamic is, if some institution is vested with a cloak of infallibility, it will not ever rise to be efficient. The challenge, as always, is to be spare in such vesting, and careful in how you do it.

That said, it is absolutely, positively fair to paint government with that broad brush... they are my servants, not I, theirs. Effective government programs are rare, and efficient ones rarer still. I do not speak in absolutes, and trust you would not opt to do so, either.
 
SCCutler said:
Scott... you know that generalizations are just that.

That said, it is absolutely, positively fair to paint government with that broad brush... .
Click to expand...
I am sorry Spike but I cannot understand how these two statements reconcile. I agree that government is something we all are a part of and all have to work together on to make for us, the people. It is a refection on us and if we do not do our duties then we have failed, not government failing us.

The simple truth here is that when it came to the creation of the TSA the vast majority of people supported the creation of an institution that was was not the right solution to a problem. Legislation that created it went too far and all we still here is complaining, but no real action taken by anyone.

How about it, a real grass roots pilot protest of the TSA. Anyone up for it?

We can start with a coordinated letter writing campaign to AOPA, FAA, and major newspapers. We follow it up with a mass visit to Washington to visit Congress critters and bring our concerns to them. Anyone?
 
Last edited:
smigaldi said:
I am sorry Spike but I cannto understand how these two statements reconcile. I agree that governmetn is soemthing we all are a part of and all have to work together on to make for us, the people. It is a refection on us and if we do not do our duties then we have failed, not government failing us.

The simple truth here is that when it came to the creation of the TSA the vast majority of people supported the creation of an institution that was was not the right solution to a problem. Legislation that created it went too far and all we still here is complaining, but no real action taken by anyone.

How about it, a real grass roots pilot protest of the TSA. Anyone up for it?

We can start with a coordinated letter writing campaign to AOPA, FAA, and major newspapers. We follow it up with a mass visit to Washington to visit Congress critters and bring our concerns to them. Anyone?
Click to expand...

Scott, we all benefit everyday from the many advantages of being here, and with that benefit is a concomitant burden... the obligation to participate, to engage in civil discourse, the obligation to share solutions as well as complaints. You point this out well.

So, sign me up.

Perhaps, one day in the not-so-distant future, we can proclaim, we stood up, we spoke out, we made a difference.
 
smigaldi said:
I stop in the middle of the road to move turtles off to the side and get screamed at by drivers. If I stop for garbage they will probably start shooting. Heaven forbid someone be delayed by 30 seconds form getting to their destination.
Click to expand...

Down here, the cops arrested a guy for getting out to help some ducks that were in the middle of a busy road cross.

smigaldi said:
How about it, a real grass roots pilot protest of the TSA. Anyone up for it?

We can start with a coordinated letter writing campaign to AOPA, FAA, and major newspapers. We follow it up with a mass visit to Washington to visit Congress critters and bring our concerns to them. Anyone?
Click to expand...

There are some folks on Flyertalk that were working on a non-profit that would do just that....
 
I say we visit DC on March 30th, 2010 to speak up.
 
I'm actually game for this too, Scott, if you're serious.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top