Monday, March 8, 2010

The people that actually make our society work!

The airline industry in the USA is a great example of the constant decay we see in our country. Speaking with some fellow pilots in Denver yesterday we chatted about the constant slow death of the airline pilot career. Older pilots are refusing to retire, airlines are slowly devolving and losing money. There are no decent paying flying jobs available right now in the US; they are all overseas in China, India, the Middle East, etc. Yet, somehow the airlines find plenty of young kids to fly for sub $20k a year to fly people around in RJs and Turboprops, while the top paying flying jobs have now all moved overseas. If you are a highly experienced pilot the only way to get a reasonable income is to go overseas. Yet, for those starting out they have to spend $50-100K to get the training they need to be a new hire pilot. Go figure! One of the pilots remarked, after telling me that his company will shut its doors in September, that one of these days they will stop using the phrase "going postal" and start saying "going airline".

Consider the situation we face in our country when well meaning Air Traffic controllers face losing their jobs for letting their kids say "Adios" to an airplane on a take kids to work day? There was no threat to the flying public, the ATC controllers in JFK are top-notch. What happened is that some no-nothing and do-nothings on TV decided to have a field day at the expense of some Dads that help keep everyone save and make America actually work on a daily basis. Until we as Americans wake up and start to value these people that sustain the daily functions of our society, we will see a continual decline in the status quo. What does it say about a country where those that are celebrated are those that contribute absolutely nothing to the functioning of the society ? Meanwhile those that do make this society work are continually harassed and punished for small liberties that actually help sustain the overall economic machine.

In the future, I predict that the people that made their riches skimming profits from transactions, and others that only take value from our society will see their fortunes decline. Where we are headed it will be those that add value to society that actually get ahead again. Firemen, Police, Garbage-men, Mechanics, Teachers, Pilots, Bus drivers, Train Engineers, Air Traffic Controllers, Farmers....these will be our heros again someday. I just hope it happens before we see our society collapse under all of the weight of all the leeches the productive people are forced to carry.

Want success in the future? Start with actually doing something that helps society: Build something, Grow something, Do something. If you don't prepare to suffer.

3 comments:

  1. Know just what you mean. Spent 20 years flying heavy equip./cargo. Have over 15k hours in 707's and DC-8's. Decided that I'd rather sleep in my own bed if I have to work for 75 cents an hour. Can't even make the salary of my first job back in the early 80's. I don't want to go to Middle East and can't since I'm (horrors) a girl. And even over there pay is not that great. So, what can you do? I'm raising livestock here in Ky. May start a coffee shop too. It's grim and probably not gonna get better. I'm only 50, but Aviation has turned into a low wage proposition.

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  2. I suspect that "we as Americans" are valuing "these people that sustain the daily functions" less because something else is "valuing" more.

    Let's see, what has quadrupled in price since about 2003 (with a brief flirtation with a ten-fold increase)? You guessed it: oil.

    No how much we wish upon a star that it can be, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, "Morning in America," again, it won't happen. No matter how much we chant to ourselves to value the right things, without more oil, it just won't happen.

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  3. 'No *matter* how much'.. I meant to say.

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