High-flying welfare queens

[marmar]

from OnTheCommons:



High-Flying Free Riders
The growing fleet of posh private jets? We subsidize them.

By David Bollier


The private jet is always cast as the ultimate status symbol. Flip through The New Yorker and other upscale magazines, and you are invited to enter the fantasy world of private aviation, where there are no crowds, no long security lines and no boring waits in noisy airport lounges. You can just drive up to the plane (in your limo, of course) and jet to wherever and whenever you want!

The outrageous reality is that private jets are one of the most piggish forms of conspicuous consumption imaginable. The private jet is not only a symbol of extreme privilege and exclusivity, it imposes significant costs on the air travel system, taxpayers, shareholders and the environment.

The facts are all laid out in a report by the Institute for Policy Studies and Essential Action, High Flyers: How Private Jet Travel is Straining the System, Warming the Planet and Costing You Money. The authors are Sarah Anderson, Sam Bollier, John Cavanagh, Chuck Collins and Robert Weissman. (Full disclosure: Sam Bollier is my son.)

Private jet travel has “taken off” over the past forty years — from 1,000 jets in 1970 to over 10,000 in 2006, a number that is expected to double by 2017. For years, the expansion rate of private aviation roughly paralleled that of commercial aviation. Then, in 1997, private aviation took off — a trend that not-so-coincidentally paralleled the worsening of inequality. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://onthecommons.org/content.php?id=2711

[Mother Smuckers]

1. Nonsense. Every charge/accusation made against those aircraft can be equally applied to every

commercial plane. If the argument is only about how many people are being transported, let's take a look at Air Force One.

[flying rabbit]

2. The Prez should fly commercial?

Wouldn't that make security an even bigger hassle at airports?

[Mother Smuckers]

8. Of course not, but it hardly requires a 747 to carry one VIP around.

There are aircraft that cost 1/10 as much to operate that are just as fast and safe. But if cost isn't the only consideration, what about the environmental impact?...same thing applies...and if it's a matter of 'elitism', well I can't really say much about that. (For the record, I've criticized every presidential perk in this area for over 40 years.)

In any case, airport security is handled on the ground and has nothing to do with the type of airplane that's landing there except for some special communications that are easily adapted to most any type.

[pinboy3niner]

12. Is this a test?

Are you a debate teacher? You throw out phony issues and false comparisons, and then change the subject (who raised "airport security" or ground security as an issue?) as if you are testing to see how much you'll be caught on. Or are you just playing devil's advocate for the hell of it?

[bergie321]

13. The President

Never travels alone. He is always surrounded by aides, press, and others. I would bet that there are rarely empty seats on AF1.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. You do know those birds (Yes you read right birds)

are not quite your normal birds...

[bluethruandthru]

3. I think we want our President to have a few privileges. n/t

[pinboy3niner]

4. You lost me at Air Force One

I believe AF One normally carries more passengers than most private jets (if you're talking about the jets; any aircraft carrying the president is designated AF One).

But it's a false comparison to begin with, considering security factors.

[wolfgangmo]

5. Hmmmmm.

Do you think that this story is less about polution, about which you have a point, or more about the massive tax benefits the rich get for their toys and the extra expense that the public flight control system is put under, not to mention the parallel system of flight planning that only the rich can access so that the peons don't have access to their extravagent lifestyles?

Methinks someone didnt read their links before posting.

[marmar]

6. Methinks you don't know what the f**k you're talking about.

:think:

[pinboy3niner]

7. Methinks someone didn't RTFM

The poster of the OP is innocent.

[Rex]

9. The uber rich don't like travelling first class on commercial planes with poor people.

It will make them look bad in the eyes of their super wealthy peers imo.

[Mother Smuckers]

10. Do you seriously believe all those people who hate the rich and buy lottery tickets

are dedicated to donate their potential millions in winnings to Habitat for Humanity? Haw haw haw.

People of modest means automatically hate the rich and spend a significant portion of their time trying to figure out some way to join them.

[Rex]

11. Not true, most working class people just try to pay their bills on time.

I guess you have time to try and become rich, but most working class people are too busy just making a living. The lottery is just a fabrication of the state so you can become rich if you are one lucky SOB. :hi:

[bergie321]

14. Can you blame them?

Nothing between them and the common rabble but a thin half-curtain? Guffaw! :sarcasm:

[Rex]

16. LOL!

My thoughts exactly!