Remember this one, folks...?
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A follow-up... after the fact... by Bart Jansen of USA
Today...
Transportation Security Administration fees on plane
tickets are rising Monday, and travelers used to non-stop flights or long
layovers will notice the biggest change.
The current fee is $2.50 for a non-stop flight or $5 for
a connecting flight. The new fee will be $5.60 for all flights, with any
connection longer than four hours counting as a separate flight.
Although Congress approved the fee hike to help reduce
the deficit...
* CONGRESS... MEANING THE GOP HOUSE... AND THE DEMOCRAT
SENATE... WORKING IN "BIPARTISAN" FASHION...
* HOW'YA LIKE THAT "BIPARTISANSHIP," FOLKS?
GREAT, HUH!
...TSA is the agency getting pounded by more than 300
comments through Friday largely criticizing the agency and government taxation.
Although the fees are going into effect, TSA will collect comments through Aug.
19.
* "POUNDED." (*ROLLING MY EYES*) WHAT THE HELL
DO THEY CARE!
Patrick Riehl of Cambridge, Mass., argued that two things
other than the TSA have made aviation safer since the Sept. 11 attacks that
prompted creation of the agency: reinforced cockpit doors and passengers who
fight back. "It only succeeds in humiliating the elderly, scaring children
and making all travelers feel like criminal suspects," he said in
submitted comments. "We should scale back airport security, not expand
it."
Jonathan Peterson, of Atlanta, said he strongly opposes
the higher fee because of past TSA mistakes in buying equipment that was later
discarded. "The TSA has wasted tremendous traveler time and money, with
useless security theater and lobbyist payout devices like whole-body
scanners," he said.
James Cartmill said because money is diverted to the
general fund...
* AND THERE WE HAVE IT, FOLKS! THE DIRTY LITTLE
"SECRET." THE SCAM. THE SLIGHT OF HAND...!!! THESE BASTARDS AREN'T
RAISING TSA FEES TO MEET RISING TSA COSTS - THEY'RE SIMPLY RAISING TAXES!
THEY'RE DIVERTING THE TAXES TO THE GENERAL FUND!
...the higher fee should be considered a tax — and House
Republicans should be blamed for going against their pledge not to raise taxes.
"It's all a very expensive fleecing of consumers, and now the TSA fee will
become another thing to be cynical about and to add to the cost of
travel," he said.
* OF COURSE THE REPUBLICANS LIED...! THESE ARE THE
BOEHNER REPUBLICANS...! OH... PEOPLE... UNDERSTAND WHAT WE'RE DEALING WITH
HERE...!
Congress agreed to the increase in December to raise
$12.6 billion to cut the deficit.
* THE DEFICIT WON'T BE CUT. THE PATTERN IS RAISE TAXES...
AND RAISE SPENDING EVEN HIGHER.
TSA estimates the hike will generate $16.9 billion more
than current collections.
* YEAH... GOVERNMENT ESTIMATES...
* I'M STILL WAITING FOR MY $2,500 IN YEARLY PREMIUM
SAVINGS FROM OBAMACARE - HOW'BOUT THE REST OF YOU...?!?!
(*SNORT*)
Industry groups, such as Airlines for America, which
represent the largest airlines, and the U.S. Travel Association, representing a
variety of travel businesses, have opposed the fee increase. "It's like
paying for a root canal," said George Hobica, founder of
airfarewatchdog.com, which monitors ticket prices. "It's something you
didn't want anyway. Now you're paying more for it."
* NO... IT'S MORE LIKE WHEN YOU OR YOUR WIFE OR CHILD HAS
BEEN RIPPED OFF BY AN UNSCRUPULOUS DISHONEST MECHANIC! (WITH A ROOT CANAL AT
LEAST YOU'RE GETTING WHAT YOU PAY FOR! WITH THIS... THE MONEY WILL JUST GET
PISSED INTO THE WIND.)
"I think it's going to hit people who do multi-city
trips," Hobica told USA TODAY. "Policymakers really treat travelers
as a piggy bank, picking their pockets."
* YEP. I'VE ADDRESSED THIS MANY TIMES!
Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel
Coalition, a trade group serving travel managers, said the fee is part of the
government's dysfunctional funding for all aviation regulation and security.
Businesses need to find more constructive solutions for how to finance aviation
rather than the current combination of general taxes and user fees, he said.
"There is an incoherent policy for financing the
U.S. aviation system, including fees for security," Mitchell said.
* WELCOME TO AMERICA!
2 comments:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/21/perry-raises-stakes-in-border-showdown/
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is taking the next step today as he is expected to order 1,000 members of the Texas National Guard to defend the Rio Grande Valley amid an ongoing surge in illegal immigration.
* NOT MANY DETAILS YET... BUT A GOOD FIRST STEP!
http://online.wsj.com/articles/peter-wallison-four-years-of-dodd-frank-damage-1405893333
When the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer "Protection" Act took effect on July 21, 2010, it immediately caused a sharp partisan division. This staggeringly large legislation — 2,300 pages — passed the House without a single Republican vote and received only three GOP votes in the Senate.
* NOTICE THE WSJ CAN'T BE "BOTHERED" TO FIT IN THE THREE NAMES...
(*SMIRK*)
Republicans saw the bill as ObamaCare for the financial system, a vast and unnecessary expansion of the regulatory state.
Four years later, Dodd-Frank's pernicious effects have shown that the law's critics were, if anything, too kind.
Dodd-Frank has already overwhelmed the regulatory system, stifled the financial industry and impaired economic growth.
According to the law firm Davis, Polk & Wardell's progress report, Dodd-Frank is severely taxing the regulatory agencies that are supposed to implement it. As of July 18, only 208 of the 398 regulations required by the act have been finalized, and more than 45% of congressional deadlines have been missed.
The effect on the economy has been worse.
A 2013 Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas study showed that the GDP recovery from the recession that ended in 2009 has been the slowest on record, 11% below the average for recoveries since 1960.
* FOLKS... LET'S BE HONEST... THE RECESSION NEVER ENDED. (YES... "TECHNICALLY" IT DID... BUT DOES IT REALLY FEEL AS IF WE HAVEN'T BEEN LIVING THROUGH A RECESSIONARY PERIOD?)
There is always a trade-off between regulation and economic growth, but Dodd-Frank — by far the most intrusive and costly financial regulation since the New Deal — placed few if any limitations on regulatory power.
Written broadly and leaving regulators to fill in the details, the act has often left regulators in doubt about what Congress meant. Even after regulations have been finalized, interpreting them can be a trial. For example, the regulations implementing the inconsistent Volcker Rule, which prohibited banks and their affiliates from trading securities for their own account, took more than three years to write, but key provisions are still unclear.
(*HEADACHE*)
These uncertainties, costs and restrictions have sapped the willingness or ability of the financial industry to take the prudent risks that economic growth requires. With many more regulations still to come, Dodd-Frank is likely to be an economic drag for many years.
None of this was necessary.
The administration and Congress acted hastily.
* CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS ACTED HASTILY... AND WORSE... HARMFULLY!
Several months ago J.P. Morgan Chase announced that it plans to hire 3,000 more "compliance officers" this year, to supplement the 7,000 brought on last year.
At the same time the bank will reduce its overall head count by 5,000.
* JUST PONDER THAT, FOLKS... JUST PONDER THAT...
Substituting employees who produce no revenue for those who do is the legacy of Dodd-Frank, and it will be with us as long as this destructive law is on the books.
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