John Stossel has some interesting information on the state of air traffic control in the United States, especially as compared to other nations. Make sure you read the whole thing, but here are my thoughts:
Asked if America’s air traffic control system is out of date, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg paused a long time before answering, “The system is continuously being upgraded.”
It’s important to note here that “Pothole Pete” Buttigieg is probably the perfect example of a Biden(‘s handlers) Administration official: Incompetent, not very bright, manifestly a diversity hire.
“This is your government at work,” says Diana Furchtgott-Roth in my latest video. Furchtgott-Roth worked for the Transportation Department during the Trump administration.
I yell at her. “Air traffic control was in your department. You could have fixed it. You should have fixed it!”
She smiles and explains that although she had control of $1 billion, she wasn’t allowed to move those funds to where they were needed.
Government managers must fund projects pushed by politicians, like “Justice40,” meant to fix “underinvestment in disadvantaged communities.”
Of course. Why try to make anything more modern, more efficient when there are fortunes to be made through graft?
“Sounds like they mean well,” I say.
“It sounds a lot better to talk about social justice,” answers Furchtgott-Roth. “Nuts and bolts like computer hardware for air traffic control gets left behind.”
Computer hardware isn’t left behind in Canada. They got rid of “flight control with paper strips” years ago. That’s because Canada turned air traffic control over to a private company. They switched to an electronic system.
It’s not just Canada that did it. Dozens of countries have privatized or partially privatized.
Computer screens have replaced not-always-clear windows in many air traffic control centers. Controllers don’t use binoculars anymore because high-definition cameras let them see much more, especially at night.
A Government Accountability Office study found that in countries that privatized, there are fewer delays and costs are lower.
So why doesn’t America privatize?
Money. As Stossel points out:
Because our politicians get money from labor unions, who “advocate for keeping the same people in the same jobs,” says Furchtgott-Roth.
That’s the main thing right there. And it’s another great argument for doing away with public-sector unions. This, True Believers, is yet another (they are legion) example of why public-sector unions are a fundamental conflict of interest and should be proscribed by law: They negotiate their contracts with the same politicians whose campaigns they bankroll, and then meet with those politicians (again, whose campaigns they bankroll) to influence policy.
It’s about graft; it’s always about graft.
