The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition

Most of the readers of this website will agree that the Federal government is catastrophically, chaotically, crushingly bloated, and its restrictions as articulated by the United States Constitution have been ignored by the legislature, the executive and, sadly, by the judiciary.

But what is the proper function of the federal government in today's modern society? Obviously the founders didn't foresee a need for the FAA and its control of the airspace over America. And certainly one can argue that the states are the proper places for regulation of our airspace, and that the Constitution has a structure in place to manage the inevitable issues arising from 50 states controlling 50 airspaces.

That sounds like a recipe for disaster. Consistent regulation across the 50 states makes perfect sense for some things, and air traffic is one of those things. So as distasteful as another massive federal bureaucracy may be, it does serve a legitimate function, in spite of its axiomatic government waste and inefficiency and outright sloth.

Airlines Group Commends Trump's Megabill for Funding Aviation Infrastructure Modernization

Airlines for America, a trade association of leading U.S. airlines, commended President Donald Trump for signing into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that contains a $12.5 billion provision to modernize the country's air traffic control (ATC) systems, the group said in a July 4 statement.

The bill, signed by Trump on Independence Day, sets aside roughly $12.5 billion for "acquisition, construction, sustainment, and improvement of facilities and equipment necessary to improve or maintain aviation safety."

The amount will be appropriated to the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and remain available until Sept. 30, 2029.

The real question is: Can a competent and aggressive administrator cut through the massive inertia of the FAA (or any other government department) and modernize what is clearly an overstrained system? We have at our fingertips incredible technology that can be leveraged to make our safe skies even safer. But the track record of technological advancement in our government is pathetically bad. Are they still using floppy disks at NASA? CRT screens at the FAA?

This will be a significant challenge for President Trump and his appointee, who is a career government man, and that does not fill me with hope! Perhaps he will delegate the technological development to others and focus on what he probably knows best...navigating the labyrinth of government!

[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter and X/Twitter] And the Apple and Spotify feeds for CJN's podcast should be working!

posted by CBD at 11:00 AM

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