When I saw the headline "How One Federal Agency Was Able to Beat the Sequester" I thought it was great...at least somebody figured out how to continue doing their job and serve the public with a slightly smaller budget. (Just like county and municipal agencies have had to do in Ohio ever since the state government started decreasing spending by cutting down on local government funding), But NO...it's just politics as usual..."Let me play shortstop or I'll take my ball and go home." http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/beef-with-the-sequester-at-least-one-federal-program-was-able-to-beat-it/2013/03/31/1f45f44e-97f5-11e2-b6a6-affcd1af039a_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics
When I was in college back at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, I held an intern job with the Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB. I was in the Cataloging divsion of the AF Logistics Command. You may know it as teh division that catlogues part numbers. At the end of each budget year, in the beginning of the 4th quarter, the civilian boss would hold a meeting to discuss how much funding was left in the travel budget and to inquire who may be interested in traveling to some far away base to use up the fund. Las Vegas , New Orleans and anywhere in Europe weere very popular. Use it or lose it. That was my first lession in wasteful government spending.
yeah that is quite literally how the entire area here works. There are so many people who crank the belt all year, then spend lavishly and unwisely so as to justify their present budget status. It's also one of the reasons we have one of, if not the, most expensive airport in the US. It's just lighting government money on fire.. Funny, Southwest Airlines wanted to come in here and save the day. They basically asked for their own wing to be built here in HSV (not an unreasonable request AT ALL). Just the practice of Southwest flying regularly out of HSV would have brought down the price of flight regionally.. the domino would impact everything from Nashville to JAX to Memphis. Instead, they claimed they couldn't do it...blamed the whole thing on 'Greedy Southwest Airlines who isn't really your friend' and then turned around with their media campaign here (I'm a member of the group that's allegedly searching for a low-cost carrier) of blame and shuffle. It's quite comical, but it's also been quite educational. I'm no expert, but I'd bet both my nuts that if you gave me that job for a year, I could create 10,000 jobs regionally and drop the price of airfare in the area by almost $150 a flight... at least. But no one wants to do that.. because their future is already budgeted. **** everyone else.
Corey, You can bet your @ss that the other airlines were the ones leading the charge against helping Southwest do anything. We have front row seats to that crap here in Dallas... EVERYTHING is done to protect DFW airport and the American Airlines dinosaur. The Wright amendment is the most ridiculous thing EVER. (No airline can fly past a state that is contiguous to Texas from any airport in the area except DFW.) So... to fly Southwest (who flies from Love Field) I am forced to change planes in La, OK, Ark, or NM. Complete BS. :x
Great point, Scott. I don't think people honestly realize how much inflation is built into our society legislatively. You are 100% correct though about our local situation. The locals and feds will deny it to their dying breath, but that's exactly what happened. Southwest made a very customary request/contract negotiation. The port authority basically said they'd have to build their own wing (thus negating any possible hope of a profit for the next several years). The reason given was that the other airlines would, fairly cough cough, demand that they are at an unfair disadvantage because Southwest would have a tax payer funded wing in the airport that would be better than theirs.. Which.. totally ignores the fact that the big airlines already have their own individual wings that were tax payer funded when the airport was built and again when it was redesigned. They've been living off the tax payer forever...and further, because most all of the traffic in the airport has been historically military contractors, defense or federal employee.. they can charge whatever the hell they want (and do) because it's all just 'invisible money.' It's routinely the most expensive, or one of the most expensive airports in America... little Huntsville Alabama. There's no excuse for it. The real kicker is, they tell you (the consumer) that they are doing you a favor by even having the airport here or any flights at all. They'll tell you there is no real demand at all. Most long time locals are used to being 'the little guy' and that excuse makes sense to the average person. However, this area is fast filling up with people who are not from here and don't buy that ********.. Take a look at a map. Birmingham isn't a central hub, but Huntsville is though. It's located right between Birmingham and Nashville, two crowded industrial airports. It's a perfect location in the way that Ontario in California is. It's a more suburban professional location to fly. They have everything they need right now for a booming commuter/professional/personal airport but they won't do it. Ditto that for the long rumored Memphis to Atlanta highway (seriously, there isn't one and most people including myself are astonished to learn that). As we've seen here, when the newer population tries to take it upon themselves to bring about real development to the area (roads/airports etc), that is when that very real connection between the old 'yokels' and Washington DC is made abundantly clear. You can tell who is getting fat on 'the old way' by who blocks you from your progress. There should be a highway the runs from Memphis to Atlanta either through or right by Huntsville. There should also be a highway running from Huntsville to Knoxville. It would provide a perfect travel spoke for trucks and regular passengers alike. Instead, you're forced to take a never ending series of county roads or go way the hell out of your way to stay on the interstate. But the old boys get there way.. and people wonder why things never get better and real change is never brought about.
Corey, what you describe is not limited to Alabama state and local politics. It's evident is Indiana also. Just a couple of days ago, the Indy newspaper ran a feature article on the massive influence of lobbyists/ special interests on the state legislature. It was well researched and well written and sadly very revealing.
Sid, I have this argument all the time with my friend Crazy John. (He hates lobbyists). Not all interests are "Special". (I define a special interest as any lobbying group that I disagree with. ) Not all lobbying is bad. We are SUPPOSED to address our concerns to our legislators, and each group, whether special or not, needs to have it's opinions addressed. I bet, for instance, that TOK's friends have a lobbying group in Texas for dentists...and they aren't always lobbying to line the pockets of TOK. Sometimes they are trying to forestall bills that may alter (in a bad way) the manner in which dental care is delivered in the state. What I do hate about lobbying is that so much of it is not sitting down with the legislators trying to educate them...but rather handing them out money and other treats.
Sid, Excellent point. I was just using the micro examples here. Stu, Another good point. I think the issue is that lobbyists have such a massive disconnect from the constituency that there is no longer a representation for the people. You have the legislative barrier, the lobbyists have become their own barrier acting in their own interests... I think a lot of people are truly shocked to find out what their union, or lobby groups really represent and what they really fight for on the Hill.
Stu, excellent point. The theme of the Indy article was the amount of money in the form of campaign contributions and dinners, etc. that "certain" lobbyists/groups/associations throw at legislators to try to buy their votes. The writer cited only those special interest groups who worked to influence high-profile legislation. He did not comment on the positive or negative impact on the public, but the inference was clear, i.e., many legislators, definitely not all, vote based on relationships with groups who will benefit from their votes. I'm sure Terry's American Dental Association works hard on good legislation, although at times it may feel like pulling teeth to get the votes needed to achieve their objectives.