Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Teatarded Economics:FAA Style
Hey, remember how I mentioned in the comments on another thread how thousands of people were laid off because Congress wouldn't extened the FAA's ability to collect various airline taxes and fees? Well, the dispute, centered on subsidies for rural air access, drags on.
See, the House wants to cut 16.5 million dollars in subsidies for rural air service. It is not cost-efficient for airlines to operate out of many of these smaller airports, so rural air service would not exist at all were it not for the subsidies. Republicans also included provisions into the extension making it harder for airport workers to unionize, by counting uncast ballots as "no" votes. If you applied that standard to political elections, no politician would ever win.
Without the ability to collect the taxes and fees, the FAA is losing 30 million dollars in revenue a day, or 13.5 million dollars more than what the subsidies cost for a year.
In addition, 4,000 FAA employees are no longer collecting paychecks, and construction projects (performed by and large by private contractors) are on hold, idling another 10,000 workers.
Austerity now!
See, the House wants to cut 16.5 million dollars in subsidies for rural air service. It is not cost-efficient for airlines to operate out of many of these smaller airports, so rural air service would not exist at all were it not for the subsidies. Republicans also included provisions into the extension making it harder for airport workers to unionize, by counting uncast ballots as "no" votes. If you applied that standard to political elections, no politician would ever win.
Without the ability to collect the taxes and fees, the FAA is losing 30 million dollars in revenue a day, or 13.5 million dollars more than what the subsidies cost for a year.
In addition, 4,000 FAA employees are no longer collecting paychecks, and construction projects (performed by and large by private contractors) are on hold, idling another 10,000 workers.
Austerity now!
