Trains, Boats & Planes...and Taxes

Here's a classic case of addressing the symptoms and not fixing the cause: The Transportation Dept. has decided to limit the number of flights in and out of New York’s three airports because of flight safety issues, and a desire to address the congestion in the area.

Never mind that the FAA’s air traffic control system is antiquated and results in more flight delays than too many planes in too little airspace.

The government is also piling on the bureaucracy by creating a New York Air Traffic Czar to coordinate the limits of traffic during peak hours…and opening up military airspace to ease the congestion. Why don’t they just launch a couple of AWACS to manage the aerial traffic jams?

Transportation people say these are temporary measures to allow the government two years in which to upgrade systems and improve the air traffic control technology. Okay, I guess we’re stuck with this albatross, but could I please make a suggestion for filling the New York Air Traffic Czar position: John McClain.

Getting Ready for this morning’s BizRadio Network Listener Appreciation Breakfast in The City Club in downtown Ft. Worth…festivities commence at 8:30…

We left the traveling ensemble of the BizRadio Network Orchestra in Centerville…again…Well, there were no menu’s on the tables at Woody’s BBQ. And the Baritone Sax player got riled up about it, and when he asked the cashier, Flo, about it, she said the old menus had expired, and no one had written new ones on account of the Hollywood writers’ strike that they were observing.

So when we got ready to pay for our ribs and bean lunches, Ernest, the bari-sax player, refused to write a check…joining the striking writers’ picket line. The bus driver had to get involved…and let’s just say the next thankful of gas we ever buy in Centerville will probably have to come from the carwash and laundromat across the street.

The House is sparing more than 20 million of you/us from the alternative minimum tax this year, acquiesing to Republican demands that the $50 billion in tax relief not be offset with any other tax increases. Guess they've forgotten than when the government lowers taxes, revenues actually go up.

The AP reports, "on the last day of legislative business this year, the House voted, 352-64, to "patch" the so-called AMT, ensuring that millions of middle-class households — some with incomes as low as $75,000 — will be sheltered from the bite of the AMT."

President Bush is expected to sign the patchwork bill into law.

Memo to Congress: Why don’t you people just fix this thing once and for all?

Instead of worrying about what some over-paid athlete brat is pumping into his veins, or fretting over what goes on in bathroom stalls in airports, why not do some real work, eliminate the AMT, and while you’re at it, simply the stinking tax code into something that will fit on a 3 X 5 post card.

Did you earn money? Yes or No.
What’s 10%? Send check.

Kill withholding, kill the arcane tax code that kills off a forest a year to print, and let's git ‘er done.

Our "Freak Show Story of the Year" award is going to go to solo mariner, Pete Bethune, who is planning to circumnavigate the globe in a biodiesel-burning trimaran, the Earthrace.

The first 15-km of the trip will be powered by biodiesel produced from his own fat, removed by liposuction. Yech.

This is going to produce a whole new genre of excuses for people… “Not tonight dear, I don’t have the energy” will take on new meaning.

Finally—Time Magzine’s Man of the Year is a fella credited for bringing stability and status to his country…through intimidation and martial law.

Congratulations, VladimirPutin; obviously the check (and attached ransom note) to Time Magazine cleared.

I like what Mitt Romney said in commenting about this…that if Time picks leaders like Putin, who’s next: Raul Castro?