:: The Blurst of Times ::

:: 9.09.2004 ::

Grounded

Allow me to list the problems with the airline industry. A mode of transportation that involves hurling huge, expensive machines through the air. A mode of transportation entirely reliant upon a nonrenewable resource of which the world supply is rapidly dwindling. Massive startup costs, purchasing planes, workers (skilled and unskilled), equipment, etc. Massive lifecycle costs, replacing expensive planes, equipment, machinery, etc. Massive lifecycle maintenance costs, renting airport space, maintaining infrastructure, purchasing fuel, security measures. Inability to adapt to changing circumstances. Inability to survive below a high level of regular use. Cost of use is at the upper level of what is competitive in the marketplace. Prone to devastating accidents. Incompatible with other modes of transportation. Cannot be advanced beyond current state without significant leaps in cost, investment, and technology. Is not sustainable. Is not environmentally conscientious, in fact has lead to a huge reduction in endangered ecosystems throughout the world. Is not pleasant to be around the infrastructure and mechanisms. Operates beyond the acceptable human scale, making it an uncomfortable experience unless the scale is brought within the humane range. Top-heavy management and investment structure makes it prone to top-heavy decisions allowing for no protection of the worker in conflict with management. The society that once required fast, long-distance travel to sustain the economy is rapidly fading into the past. And so on...

So with that list in mind I wonder, why the fuck are we fighting to preserve the airline industry. I read today that several companies will be declaring bankruptcy. Several more companies are negotiating with their thousands of employees, encouraging them to give up their pension plans so they can guarantee a loan that might keep the company afloat for two more years. Someone’s pension. Today is the very first day my 401(k) kicked into effect. I looked at that $150 dollars sitting in the bank and thought ‘My god, someday that fucker’s going to be worth millions!’ And then I can have it. It’s all mine. To live life how I really want (which at the moment is everything but the job I’m currently in). But what if thirty-five years from now, someone was telling me I had to give it up, so that I would have a place to work for another 24 months. And even if I give it up, I’m by no means promised a job anytime past tomorrow. In fact, the more they take, the easier I am to get rid of. The only upside is that the more they take, the less of a burden I am on the corporate financial structure, so the less likely they are to cut me. So thousands of people’s financial future is going straight down the proverbial airline crapper because a certain group of individuals are a bunch of fucking morons.

And let’s look at these morons. I bet their pensions aren’t hurting. Let’s say you’re the kind of person who spends $15,000 a year on stuff. Not fun stuff, not movies and vacations and cars and women. Stuff you need - a roof, food, transportation. Better yet, let’s say you got a family and you spend $30,000 a year. That’s a lot, but you’re doing alright. If you‘re the airline mechanic making $45,000 a year (or worse, the flight attendant or janitor making $25,000 a year) those necessities are eating up a big portion of your earnings. Not much to set aside or to enjoy life along the way. But let’s say you’re the big cheese (or one of the big cheeses) over at American or Delta. Well shit, that $30k a year isn’t hurting you too much at all, what with your $200,000 salary plus options and dividends. You’re more than willing to sacrifice your pension because you can sock away $50,000 a year tax free - in fact without that employee pension on the books, you can make out even better.

But I’m not fighting the class war - I am just giving you the facts. And the fact is, the airline industry will die. It’s on its way out the door. Mark my words - five years from now, you won’t use it like you can today. Like a big, fat, brain-the-size-of-my-left-nut, cold-blood-in-the-ice-age dinosaur, these behemoths will be extinct. But the airline industry (and possibly the federal government with their endless ‘recovery’ loans) will be the last to notice. They’re so busy hollering at the dead horse, they can’t see the flies a-buzzin. They will keep on at it until the airports are empty and homeless people use the metal detectors for two sides of their cardboard condos.

It won’t be someone in the airline industry, but someone is going to notice this trend. Someone is going to redevelop a mode of transportation that is more efficient, less hazardous, has a smaller ecologic (and global) footprint, more individualized, and more respectful to the user. I purposely say redevelop. I doubt it will be new technology, we have everything here we need. We just need to make better use of it. The rail infrastructure has been around for over 150 years. Electricity is becoming cheaper and cheaper, and even the sun and the wind can be tapped for energy sources. You crash a train, it kills the people on board - trains can’t fly into the biggest buildings in the world, or spread toxins over the most populated centers in the world. Trains can change in size shape, they can be regulated, nationally and internationally. The mechanics that power trains are cleaner and safer and require less training both to maintain and to operate than airplanes.

Pretty much the airplane is a remnant of the concept of ‘Manifest Destiny’ and the great charge to the west. Time to stop slamming into brick walls. This world is facing worse problems than ever seen in history and it’s going to take better solutions, not just the same solutions in a louder voice.

“And I was singin’ ‘Bye-bye Miss American Pie...’”

:: Freddy F. at 10:04 PM [+] ::