The Trump Presidency

[Il Duce]

The Atlantic ran an article today on how sequestration will make the Trump administration budget very difficult to pass (the article actually said impossible - but some possible ways were highlighted in it). I found it very convincing: Trump's Budget Can't Survive Sequestration

 

[TLDR20]

What's Warrior Scholar?

The Warrior Scholar Project...

 

[Salt USMC]

What's Warrior Scholar?

x 1000

 

[ThunderHorse]

The Atlantic ran an article today on how sequestration will make the Trump administration budget very difficult to pass (the article actually said impossible - but some possible ways were highlighted in it). I found it very convincing: Trump's Budget Can't Survive Sequestration

Sequestration literally did nothing to solve problems. At least Trump is attempting to solve problems by cutting them out like cancer.

 

[Marauder06]

x 1000

Sorry, should have said "which Warrior-Scholar." There are like eight different things going on under a similar name.

 

[Poccington]

White House 'will not repeat' allegations that GCHQ spied on Trump

Someone needs to tell Trumps administration to stop digging themselves into a deeper hole with this wiretapping carry on.

 

[Blizzard]

Sorry, should have said "which Warrior-Scholar." There are like eight different things going on under a similar name.

And that's the problem with a lot of this stuff. It's redundant or otherwise covered elsewhere. Perhaps it technically would go away but the reality is that same/very similar services are or can be provided through other resources.

 

[Dienekes]

He can eliminate agencies that receive funding, but he does not control funding, only veto it in a budget bill. I would argue he's putting everything possible on the table so that some of it gets cut rather than going to the table with trimmings and getting a paper towel to suck up the juice. Although I'm pretty sure he can eliminate executive agencies that receive funding or direct their operations so there's a possibility.

 

[TLDR20]

Another thing POTUS is talking about is privatization of the Air Traffic Control system. I think this is a horrible decision. This would IMO lead to user fees, which would further hamper a decreasing general aviation(GA) community, increase costs for air carriers, and again IMO decrease the professionalism of that community. I have flown out of airports with contracted ATC and they are by and large rider, and less professional than the ones at larger fully governmental ones.

Look no further than Europe to see what a shitty GA network looks like...

Many do not realize how many jobs GA creates, not only for future airline pilots, but for mechanics, FBO's, fuelers and many others...

 

[Marauder06]

I don't know much about the air traffic control but typically the government does a poor job running business-like activities. And the aviation industry as a whole seems to have benefitted enormously from privatization and deregulation. Maybe the ATC will have the same effect.

 

[Marine0311]

Ah.

Trump and Merkel not shaking hands is a bad thing I know but what is the impact of that? Just looks bad or what?

:-/

 

[TLDR20]

ATC isn't and shouldn't be a business like venture. It is critical infrastructure. It shouldn't be in the business of making money. That could lead to a decrease in competency, and a decrease in safety. I am pretty sure we can look at our aviation industry, particularly ATC as an example of something the government does extremely well.

The evidence for this is the amazing safety record of commercial and general aviation in the US.

Here is something that points out how safety could be compromised in a privately run ATC or fee based ATC system.

FAA privatisation – User fees based ATC – First hand experience from Europe | The Online Hangar

Trump Proposes Corporate ATC

 

[AWP]

There are some things that just shouldn't be privatized, such as ATC and prisons.

 

[TLDR20]

There are some things that just shouldn't be privatized, such as ATC and prisons.

Could not agree more!

 

[Blizzard]

The issue with privitizing ATC isn't so much a discussion of who can do it better gov't v. private. That alone won't necessarily result in user fees. Rather, in this case, the bigger issue is the speculation as to who would make up the private group. The consensus seems to be that it'd be a board largely made up of and controlled by the airlines, essentially turning control over to them. It is control by a group such as this that has the GA world concerned about user fees. But, in theory anyway, there are ways to avoid this and move to a private system.

 

[Kraut783]

Donald Trump says Germany owes US and Nato 'vast sums of money' for defence

Donald Trump demands Germany pays the United States to defend it

 

[Il Duce]

The issue with privitizing ATC isn't so much a discussion of who can do it better gov't v. private. That alone won't necessarily result in user fees. Rather, in this case, the bigger issue is the speculation as to who would make up the private group. The consensus seems to be that it'd be a board largely made up of and controlled by the airlines, essentially turning control over to them. It is control by a group such as this that has the GA world concerned about user fees. But, in theory anyway, there are ways to avoid this and move to a private system.

That's always seemed to me a good insight about privatization/nationalization in general. It's not just a question of something being run by the government, NGO, or business - it matters a great deal how you set it up, what the incentives are, and what checks/regulations are in place. I don't know enough about the ATC to have a strong opinion but I'm with @AWP 100% on private prisons. Everything I've read says this has been disastrous from a cost, justice, and human rights perspective across the board. I have been reading some about charter schooling and for-profit companies in the education sector. It seems like there really are a number of charter schools, even for-profit ones, that get great results and are worth the money (especially when compared with states/cities with really entrenched interests that push all costs up like NJ). But, there are even more - especially in states with business-backed lobbying that gets whatever they want (like FL) - where the charter schools get similar or worse results at higher costs and minimal accountability.

From a philosophical perspective it's the thing that concerns me about the Trump administration, and wider conservative position, on eliminating regulation. I can certainly believe there are huge inefficiencies, redundancies, and ineffective rules in the government sector. But, I think there is also clearly a rapacious side to private industry that will fuck you over at high speed whenever given the opportunity. I'm much more sympathetic in general to someone talking about regulation/oversight reform rather than blanket elimination. I'd be willing to support conservative candidates who were pushing smaller government/less oversight if they were making a strong case for more effective government and oversight. To me, that extends to the defense sector as well.

 

[TLDR20]

Should keep things interesting:

It's Official: The FBI Is Investigating Trump's Links to Russia

 

[ThunderHorse]

Local agencies exacerbating issues: Report Tallies Jailed Undocumented Immigrants Released Despite DHS Requests

 

[amlove21]

Should keep things interesting:

It's Official: The FBI Is Investigating Trump's Links to Russia

I have gotten conditioned to a point where I can not WAIT to see how Spicy squares this circle!!! This administration keeps it interesting, I will say that.