From a business news site:
I'm a notorious bore about big enthusiast for small-plane general aviation and non-airline flight, and whenever I can invent a rationalization for doing so, I will fly a little four-seat propeller plane somewhere rather than going commercial. It's flexible; door-to-door it's often faster; if I count only the direct fuel costs I can tell myself it's less expensive; and mainly I just love doing it. So I'm usually glad to hear any news that bolsters America's general-aviation economy.
BUT: it's hard to see this news as something other than Chapter 4,312 in the "Polarization of America" saga. As public life deteriorates -- public schools, public roads, public health care, public transportation as involves TSA-era commercial airlines -- the people with the most money and the most influence can exempt themselves from the worsening public sphere. Which then worsens all the more. It takes a lot to have me view a "good news for aviation" story as potentially bad news in some larger sense. But that is how I see this one.
BUT: it's hard to see this news as something other than Chapter 4,312 in the "Polarization of America" saga. As public life deteriorates -- public schools, public roads, public health care, public transportation as involves TSA-era commercial airlines -- the people with the most money and the most influence can exempt themselves from the worsening public sphere. Which then worsens all the more. It takes a lot to have me view a "good news for aviation" story as potentially bad news in some larger sense. But that is how I see this one.
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James Fallows is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and has written for the magazine since the late 1970s. He has reported extensively from outside the United States and once worked as President Carter's chief speechwriter. He and his wife, Deborah Fallows, are the authors of the new book Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey Into the Heart of America, which has been a New York Times best-seller and is the basis of a forthcoming HBO documentary.