With all the budget news yesterday, this was a story I just didn't get to- and now, as I get ready to write it, it isn't a story anymore.Early yesterday morning, I got tipped off to a story that was making Rep. Todd Tiahrt of Wichita scream bloody murder: Congressman Barney Frank, Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, had done some tweaking to the authorization of the second half of the already authorized bailout of the financial services industry and had inserted language into the bill requiring any recipient of federal bailout dollars to sell off all of their corporate jets.
In an effort to
Rep. Todd Tiahrt sent a letter to Frank Monday saying the "job-killing provision is a symbolic slap in the face to more than 1,200,000 workers spread across every state whose jobs depend on general aviation."Yes, that was helpful.
While Tiahrt and Governor Kathleen Sebelius hollered about the "unintended consequences" of such a provision- i.e, the lost of even more jobs in the Wichita aircraft industry- I wasn't really inclined to write anything...because I'm kind of on Congressman Frank's side on this one. I don't really like the idea of my tax dollars fueling up a corporate executives plane. Guess I'll just have to grit my teeth and bare it for the good of Kansas, huh?
My opinion matters not now, because by the end of the day yesterday the provision had been stripped from the bill, thanks to the actions of Kansas Congressman Dennis Moore, who happens to serve on the Financial Services Committee.
Moore also sent a letter...which strikes a less, oh, confrontational tone:
In a letter to Frank on Monday, Rep. Dennis Moore, a Kansas Democrat who sits on the Financial Services Committee, argued that the industry employs more than 44,000 workers in Kansas and that suppliers employ many more. "General aviation contributes more than $150 billion to the U.S. economy annually and employs more than 1,265,000 people," Moore wrote.And, poof, by the end of the day the language was gone. Shocking what can be done when there is a little bipartisan "oomph" behind something.
"We have to be careful about Congress overreacting, leading to the unintended consequences of losing these high-skilled, good-paying jobs right here in Kansas," Moore said.
Out of all of the half-dozen stories written about this provision, which, mind you, never made it out of committee, one name is strangely absent- that of the other Kansan on the Financial Services Committee, Lynn Jenkins. Glad she's up there stirrin' the pot and makin' changes...it's nice we have a real Member of Congress still on the committee, isn't it, folks?
2 comments:
I think this whole jet thing got a little blown out of proportion; corporate officers fly private jets, because they are paid a lot of money, so for them to sit in an airport and wait on delays and security costs more money, in the end, than just having the jets, especially when you have to fly high-dollar investors to your facilities. Granted, the CEOs could have maybe plane-pooled to Washington for appearances sake, but the end game is that it is a normal operating expense to have these jets when you are running a large-scale, professional corporation.
The Bail Out Game
There is is new web based game called the "Bail Out Game." It has you driving a truck load of money around a Monopoly like board while you make decisions about what companies to bail out. Economic events like stock market drops often occur. This would be hilarious if it didn't so closely resemble reality. You can play it here. Have fun while the money lasts
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