Sanity Prevails (for once) – Crazy Airline Subsidy Ends

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 2

airplane dropping money Last December you witnessed my rant about the ridiculous airline subsidies for “Essential Air Service” for small Montana cities. I facetiously thanked you taxpayers for chipping in $3,652 for my (and every) 120-mile flight from Lewistown to Billings.

Apparently ridership increased from 1 passenger per day to 1.5, so the annual subsidy turned out to be just over $2,000 per passenger. But here’s the good news: Today the Associated Press reported that the Essential Air Service subsidies for Lewistown and Miles City are no more. Unfortunately, the subsidies for the other Montana small cities were left in place.

Hooray! Chalk up one small victory for the taxpayers!

Now, how many other wasteful, fraudulent, unproductive, and obsolete federal government programs are out there? Hey, I know . . . let’s look first over at the IRS, who spent $4 million on a conference for 2,600 government workers, but can’t seem to figure out how to collect over $1 billion in past due taxes from federal govt. employees (did ya ever hear of payroll deduction?)

Maybe we should look into the estimated $2.5 billion in food stamp fraud, or the $1.5 billion spent for ObamaPhones. Senator Coburn found $18 billion totally wasted in 2012 without breaking a sweat. And then there’s ObamaCare.

I have applied for one of those government grants so I can do a study: “Why does the federal government waste our taxpayer dollars?” The report would be pretty short, so I only asked for a million dollar grant. But just in case my grant request doesn’t come through, I’ll give you a sneak preview of my findings. The federal government wastes your money because: it isn’t their money.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

That ain’t workin’. That’s the way you do it.
Let me tell ya, them guys ain’t dumb.

Get money for nothin’, and chicks for free.

Money for Nothing – Dire Straits

Classic rock by an all-star cast – Mark Knopfler, Sting, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton. Notice they left out all the politically-incorrect words. Wimps!

Govt. Spending Priority List – It’s Upside Down!

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

upside-down You might think our free-spending government does not have a priority list. From all appearances, once they have spent on an item or a program, they will continue to spend on that item or program forever – adding new items and programs to the list, but never removing any.

If we taxpayers wrote a priority list, at the top would be the things that are most important to us, and at the bottom we would put the porky programs that don’t accomplish anything, are obsolete, are wasteful or are flat-out fraudulent. If we needed to cut the budget, we would go to the bottom of the list and start whacking away. The stuff at the top would be protected.

The government priority list is the same as ours, except upside-down. Whenever taxpayers balk at spending more money, or increasing the debt limit, the government threatens to cut the things that are most important to us:

Cut spending? Why, we’ll have to get rid of all the teachers and firemen! No social security, either! And we’ll have to stop national defense completely! Why, if we cut taxes, we can’t afford to provide any help to the disabled!

Of course, we will have to keep funding the Essential Air Service program and subsidizing $3,652 for every airline ticket to Billings – that’s essential! And how could we cut the subsidies to our campaign contributors in the Green Energy business? They are broke! They need our help! And of course our unionized government employees are entitled to earn double the rate that taxpayers earn, for half the hours of work, and get fat guaranteed pensions at a young age. How could we cut back there?

When I lived in Topeka, KS, we had a mosquito problem every summer. And the county government milked that baby for all it was worth. Whenever the county wanted more money for whatever frivolous reason, they would threaten first to stop spraying for mosquitoes. Worked like a charm.

Oh yes, the government has the same spending priority list we do. It’s just upside down.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Upside down, boy, you turn me
Inside out, and round and round
Upside down, boy, you turn me
Inside out, and round and round

Upside Down – Diana Ross

Didn’t know she could dance! Watch Diana bust a move with Michael Jackson!

You Paid $3,652 For My Short Flight. Thanks!

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Tom Balek Standard 7

Silver Airlines *update 6/13/2013 – common sense prevails as Essential Air Service subsidies for Lewistown and Miles City are finally cancelled!

Thank you, taxpayers!

I just booked a flight from Lewistown to Billings. I fly frequently out of Billings, and usually I just drive to the airport – it’s only a two-hour trip. I often stay overnight at a Billings hotel so I can leave my vehicle there until my return, because long-term parking at the airport is pretty expensive. But last week I read in our local paper that we are only averaging one passenger per day through our Lewistown airport. That’s one passenger for two flights in and two flights out. Per day. Kind of embarrassing.

So I thought I would check it out. My airfare was only $71! Heck, I would spend that on gas taking my truck to Billings and back, plus I would have to pay for a hotel or parking. Why not?

How, you may ask, can air transportation from a little town like Lewistown be such a bargain? It’s called Essential Air Service. You wonderful taxpayers subsidize our tiny airline to make sure we don’t have to buy gas from a greedy privately-owned gas station and spend money at some evil, profit-hungry privately-owned hotel. It’s one of those programs that our federal government says we just can’t live without. In fact, they absolutely must raise our taxes because programs like this are . . . well, essential.

I am just overwhelmed at your generosity. I looked up the Essential Air Service subsidy for Lewistown to see how much you are paying for my trip. Let’s see, the most recent annual contract provides a $1,325,733 subsidy to Silver Airlines for serving Lewistown. One passenger per day for 365 days, that’s about 365 passengers per year . . . hmm, according to my simple math, you taxpayers are paying about $3,632 for my short trip to Billings.

Denny Rehberg and Jon Tester and Max Baucus are all big supporters of Essential Air Service. Some other stingy Congressmen tried to shut down the program, but your Montana buddies don’t have any problem with you guys paying $3,632 for me to fly to Billings. Oh, plus $3,632 when I return. I mean after all, heh heh heh . . . it’s not their money!

So thanks again, I’ll be thinking of you as I glide over the Rimrocks into Billings-Logan airport to make my connecting flight. You know, the Rimrocks sure are pretty, you can look right over the fiscal cliff . . .

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane
I ain’t got time to take a fast train
Lonely days are gone, I’m a-goin’ home
My baby just wrote me a letter!
I don’t care how much money I gotta spend
Got to get back to my baby again
Lonely days are gone, I’m a-goin’ home
My baby just wrote me a letter!

The Letter – by the Box Tops

Huh?

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Tom Balek Standard 12

Why do Detroit parents allow their teachers to take instruction days off to protest union matters when only 4% of their students are proficient in math and 7% in language arts?
Why does my small Montana town have “Essential Air Service” taxpayer subsidies costing thousands of dollars per airline ticket when we average only one passenger per day? (Lewistown News Argus 12/8/2012)
Why doesn’t the number of administrative employees decrease in government offices, due to improved technology and communication, as it does in the private sector?
How can our nation afford all the countless grants our cities and counties are receiving every day for frivolous projects in light our staggering debt?
Why is military pay so pathetic?
How can we expect citizens to make good financial and voting decisions, and contribute to our national standard of living, when our K-12 schools provide no economic education?
Why aren’t airplanes boarded in order by window seat, middle seat, and then aisle seat?
Why do liberals think it is abusive to expect women to buy their own birth control, but are okay with genital mutilation, oppression, and murder of women by Muslims?
Why don’t senators let our military close and sell base properties that they don’t need or want?
Why does the Obama administration consider a couple who makes $250k per year “rich”, yet an individual is not rich until he or she earns $200k per year? (Fewer couples are married now anyway – shouldn’t single “rich” be “$125k? Or shouldn’t married “rich” be $400k?)
Why does the federal reserve think that keeping interest rates near zero is a good thing? Should people be punished for saving money?
Why are we concerned about minor skirmishes in the Middle East but we ignore deaths by the thousands in neighboring Mexico?
Why do liberals have no problem with actors and athletes making millions of dollars, but are indignant when a business owner or executive does?
If liberal rich guys think they should pay more taxes, why don’t they just write a check?
After labeling the Bush tax cuts as “only for the rich” for all these years, why do liberals now insist on keeping the Bush tax cuts mostly in place? Are they admitting that the evil tax cuts helped everybody?
What is the benefit to the United States of giving more F-16 fighter jets to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt?