Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

I am so tired of government bailouts, they are complete bullshit, every time.

Here comes a rant:

Even our airline "bailout" because all the airlines that were not making money cried "9-11 caused our failure". Bullshit. Sorry if that sounds callous but its bullshit. Those airlines were losing a shit ton of money BEFORE 9-11 and 9-11 did not help it. Airlines that were profitable did not get any of the bailout money! Frankly the airlines are at least partially negligent FOR 9-11 happening. Thats not a popular opinion I know, but its true, we all knew security sucked ass before 9-11 and pretty much is still lame now - we dont check every bag? we dont check all cargo? we have different systems at different airports? WTF? So if you own an airline whos ultimate job is it to make sure your planes are secure, do you blame the FAA or do you put your own measures in place above and beyond the FAA? Though some claim extra measures would alienate customers - another check at the gate lets say - I think the OPPOSITE is true, people would be happy to fly on an airline that actually takes security and safety seriously and doesnt make excuses that its somebody elses fault when they fail. Bailing out failing airlines is bullshit. There are lots of companies in this country struggling and failing and or run poorly and going bankrupt, its not the governments job to bail anybody out. And its not a "national security" risk if 3-4 major airlines just fail and go the hell away. The market will handle that with new airlines, different prices, or alternatives, etc.

As for car makers, especially American ones, they really need to stop whining and make better and more efficient cars. I have seen recent JD power surveys that show American cars (Ford, Lincoln, Buick, Cadillac) are very good in quality - based on number of complaints by owners in first three years. But overall even the "good" American ones still dont meet Japanese numbers and then take into account RESALE value and efficiency and American cars are flat out beaten. I would certainly RATHER by an American car (and I own one Ford and one Honda) but it just makes more economic sense for a consumer buy Japanese or Korean. I wish it werent so but it is. And the efficiency thing really gets me. Only a few years back the CEO of GM was poo pooing "hybrid" cards saying they would never amount to anything. Now Ford and GM have "hybrids" but they license all the technology and buy all the parts from JAPANESE COMPANIES. GM and Ford just keep getting lapped and its the fault of GM and FORD and again not the govts job to "bail" them out of running their businesses poorly in the current market.

I have traveled lately, a few times (most recently two weeks ago). I agree people are not generally understanding about delays but when it comes to mechanical, weather and security maybe they need to get over it. Personally I dont mind (ok, I mind mechanical because I generally think if the maintenance is done properly we should not have mech delays, but still if they say something is mech wrong I am sure as hell fine to wait to fix it, just annoys me that it happened in the first place). Actually I am a bit unnerved to think that we dont check all bags and all cargo when I get on a plane. I would wait a bit longer for that.

And I dont mind taking off my shoes and belt and so on. The last time I traveled they did not even send my checked bags over to the scan machine - that appears to still be random/not all.

From waaaay back in the day when I used to ship snakes on commercial flights (when I was a snake hunter for the zoo, long story) I was amazed at how little security goes into what ends up in the cargo hold. I couldnt believe it back then when every package that went in the cargo hold wasnt inspected. When I showed up with a box of snakes, they said "what the hell is that", I said "2 of this, one of that, yeah, snakes" - they literally said "take it over there man I am not touching that" and had me place it right by the conveyor and it went out to the plane with no inspection whatsoever. And thats a random guy walking in. Imagine what you could get past if you put something in the mail or other bulk type cargo that they likely screen even less. I know its likely better now than it was in 1990 or so, but still we dont check everything and thats just crazy to me (I know its not economical or efficient to do so, but its the only way to really be sure and other airlines around the world have done so for decades).