To the people who scoff at socialism as Unamerican; I want to know what is so very American about the nation's population having their tax dollars used to repeatedly bail out every type of corporate malfeasance and bad acting? Why are so many people unbothered by these companies getting their own exorbitant forms of welfare from both state and federal agencies yet paying little to no taxes often themselves?
It's nonsensical to me that underwriting bailouts for the already rich yet criminally reckless is seen as somehow more moral than helping individual people with dire circumstance often brought on by the same asshole suits we give all the money we're not spending on whatever the fuck the DOD does spend our money on. We're not safer. We're not happier. We're not healthier. If THAT'S what being American is, perhaps we need to rethink it.
The idea of "unamerican" always sat strange with me, because it's not really an argument. "That's not how we do things" is a terrible excuse to not use a very-apparent solution to an existing problem.
It's really kind of insulting to Americans since the way that's broken down for most things (healthcare, education, food security, wage stability, etc) is that we don't do things in ways that actually help our citizens often, and it's usually short-lived and sometimes accidental. "That's not how we do things; we only do them in ways that benefit the powerful and harm the hurting."
Yes, it was, and Mel Gibson was one of the pilots! The name just seems so appropriate. It was based in Vietnam during the war and was allegedly used to smuggle drugs. Biden could have used it to smuggle people.
I think I'm conflating my clandestine CIA operations here, I could have sworn they also used Air America to help prop up various capitalist friendly dictatorships but I guess that was just School of the Americas.
Ethiopian Airlines was set up by Americans after WWII and is consistently rated as the first or second highest rated airline in Africa, so Americans did set up some non-nefarious airlines.
I don’t disagree with the basic premise. But, I used to love Amtrak and over the past few years, it has been absolutely ruined, and often double the price of flying. So, in theory, I love it…but in practice could it have the same fate as Amtrak and somehow end up worse over time?
I see Amtrak as a good example of how to run a SOE. By all accounts, it used to be a much better product, but that has slipped (and fares have risen) as funding was cut.
Government-owned, corporate-owned, I have no intention of flying again until they get rid of the TSA. I won't be practically strip-searched in public for being too slow to pull out my wallet.
Flying is the most polluting form of travel. If you encourage more flights you’re going to increase emissions. From the environment’s point of view, if flying is overpriced - good. Though if airlines were actually paying for the damage they cause, tickets would probably be even more expensive.
If there’s money available to invest in an airline, I’d suggest investing it in upgrading the rail network instead. That’s where America is really lacking compared with Europe. I’m in London. I can get a train to Paris in two and a half hours, city centre to city centre. No need to get to or from an out of town airport so it works out quicker than flying, and is far more comfortable and more sociable. You can walk about on a train, meet other people, have a chat over a coffee in the dining car. Plus you get to see the landscape you’re travelling through, and carbon emissions are 95% lower than those of an equivalent flight.
To the people who scoff at socialism as Unamerican; I want to know what is so very American about the nation's population having their tax dollars used to repeatedly bail out every type of corporate malfeasance and bad acting? Why are so many people unbothered by these companies getting their own exorbitant forms of welfare from both state and federal agencies yet paying little to no taxes often themselves?
It's nonsensical to me that underwriting bailouts for the already rich yet criminally reckless is seen as somehow more moral than helping individual people with dire circumstance often brought on by the same asshole suits we give all the money we're not spending on whatever the fuck the DOD does spend our money on. We're not safer. We're not happier. We're not healthier. If THAT'S what being American is, perhaps we need to rethink it.
The idea of "unamerican" always sat strange with me, because it's not really an argument. "That's not how we do things" is a terrible excuse to not use a very-apparent solution to an existing problem.
It's really kind of insulting to Americans since the way that's broken down for most things (healthcare, education, food security, wage stability, etc) is that we don't do things in ways that actually help our citizens often, and it's usually short-lived and sometimes accidental. "That's not how we do things; we only do them in ways that benefit the powerful and harm the hurting."
And rebrand the airline Air America, because Amtrak and Aeroflot are already taken.
Isn't that what the CIA called their little..air and security service in South America?
Yes, it was, and Mel Gibson was one of the pilots! The name just seems so appropriate. It was based in Vietnam during the war and was allegedly used to smuggle drugs. Biden could have used it to smuggle people.
I think I'm conflating my clandestine CIA operations here, I could have sworn they also used Air America to help prop up various capitalist friendly dictatorships but I guess that was just School of the Americas.
I think so.
Ethiopian Airlines was set up by Americans after WWII and is consistently rated as the first or second highest rated airline in Africa, so Americans did set up some non-nefarious airlines.
Good to know! Also fascinating!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_America_(airline)
I don’t disagree with the basic premise. But, I used to love Amtrak and over the past few years, it has been absolutely ruined, and often double the price of flying. So, in theory, I love it…but in practice could it have the same fate as Amtrak and somehow end up worse over time?
I see Amtrak as a good example of how to run a SOE. By all accounts, it used to be a much better product, but that has slipped (and fares have risen) as funding was cut.
Government-owned, corporate-owned, I have no intention of flying again until they get rid of the TSA. I won't be practically strip-searched in public for being too slow to pull out my wallet.
Flying is the most polluting form of travel. If you encourage more flights you’re going to increase emissions. From the environment’s point of view, if flying is overpriced - good. Though if airlines were actually paying for the damage they cause, tickets would probably be even more expensive.
If there’s money available to invest in an airline, I’d suggest investing it in upgrading the rail network instead. That’s where America is really lacking compared with Europe. I’m in London. I can get a train to Paris in two and a half hours, city centre to city centre. No need to get to or from an out of town airport so it works out quicker than flying, and is far more comfortable and more sociable. You can walk about on a train, meet other people, have a chat over a coffee in the dining car. Plus you get to see the landscape you’re travelling through, and carbon emissions are 95% lower than those of an equivalent flight.