You should be very upset at the FAA and NATCA...

[Left Seater]

but most aren't. This is also exactly why government agencies should not be allowed to decide what to cut from their own budgets.

Let's start with a few facts from the FAA and the NATCA.

The FAA's 2012 Budget was $15.9 Billion

Reduce that by the sequestration cuts and you get $15.3 Billion

Adjust that for inflation using the governments own CPI inflation calculator and you get $14.3 Billion in 2008 dollars.

The FAA budget in 2008 was $14.1 Billion.

Now let's make one assumption; we will assume that the FAA's budget didn't increase a single penny from 2012 to 2013. Unlikely, but if it did it will only make the info below more appalling.

According to NATCA releases there were roughly 1 million more flights in 2008 than there were in 2012. This is due mostly to airline consolidation and the reduced flying on regional jets that are far less fuel efficient. Combine that with fewer general aviation flights due to the economy and higher fuel prices.


So today the FAA is doing far less with more money than they were in 2008 and yet we are told we need to accept flight delays due to budget cuts. Bull crap! They would have us believe that there is no place to cut any costs other than closing towers and reducing staffing at the busiest airports.

This isn't the case though. The FAA is choosing to make the deepest cuts to the areas that are going to effect the public the most in an effort to get their full funding restored. I am told this is an old government trick, hurt the people and they will demand you get more money. Shame on the FAA. What they should do is act like most businesses in the US. If the budget needs to be cut by 4% then everyone gets a 4% cut and you learn to deal with it. Find a way to cut more than 4% and you can share in the savings above the 4% threshold.

Hell, we should do this today with all Federal Gvt spending. Cuts across the board. Figure out what percent we are spending above our income and cut that percentage from each and every agency. This isn't a difficult task and should take no more than a few hours. Each department cuts x% from each budget line item.

[Derron]

Shame on the FAA. What they should do is act like most businesses in the US. If the budget needs to be cut by 4% then everyone gets a 4% cut and you learn to deal with it. Find a way to cut more than 4% and you can share in the savings above the 4% threshold.

Hell, we should do this today with all Federal Gvt spending. Cuts across the board. Figure out what percent we are spending above our income and cut that percentage from each and every agency. This isn't a difficult task and should take no more than a few hours. Each department cuts x% from each budget line item.

Never going to happen. Government is completely incapable of doing any kind of line item cut or efficiency improvements. I worked at a school district many years ago in the maintenance department, and showed them how we could improve efficiency and save jobs, including mine that were going to be cut. Hear nothing of it. Just cut, and operate the same way. There is no incentive at all for efficiency. Old boys on the crew told me to slow the fuck down many times.

In my contracting business, I got a government contract for landscape installation at the then new BPA Building in Portland. Spare no dollar. Top shelf parts and materials all the way, completely over the top from what was needed. We had to work on these exterior court yards on several levels. I don't think those worthless pieces of government shit worked 3 hours a day. They spent most of the time sitting in expensive patio chairs at marble tables, drinking coffee, chatting like myna birds, smoking and generally fucking off most of the day. This went on continually.

Government will always be that way. They will cut people and programs before they become efficient or manage anyways close to what private business does. Private business makes the money and pays the taxes. Just shut the fuck up and write your tax checks out.