Privatization is not the answer
In 1981 the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization went on strike for higher wages, a reduced workweek, and better working conditions. Then-president Ronald Reagan’s response was to fire roughly 11,000 air traffic controllers. Since then, our country’s air traffic control system has been chronically underfunded and understaffed and the controllers have been disrespected. Despite this, their professionalism, dedication, and safety record are exceptional.
In his Aug. 3 column (“Canada fixed its air traffic control decades ago. Why can’t America?” Ideas), Jeff Jacoby offers the standard solution for everything governmental: Privatize it, with the promise that whatever form it takes — nonprofit or public utility — it will be government-regulated.
Let’s look at the results of this country’s “private” health care system: the most expensive in the world (about 18 percent of gross domestic product) but last in health outcomes among developed countries. Meanwhile, “nonprofit” hospitals pay their CEOs multimillion dollar salaries but apparently can’t afford to hire enough nurses to actually provide sufficient patient care.
We should stop our infatuation with Reagan’s nonsensical “Government is the problem” mind-set. Instead, properly fund, staff, and professionalize our air traffic control system.
Gerald Harting
Framingham
Bring the system into the 21st century
No, Jeff Jacoby, we do not need to privatize our air traffic control system. An alleged nonprofit system is not called for. Profit will always be a driving factor. Just ask anyone who ever worked at a nonprofit hospital. Canada is not the United States. It does not have the air traffic volume of this country.
How then do we fix our air traffic control system? Simple. President Trump is bragging about all the money his tariffs are bringing in. Just use that money to bring America’s air traffic control system into the 21st century. Now, that’s putting “America first.”
Alan Bromberg
Webster
If Canada’s system is so much better, let’s sign it up
I think Jeff Jacoby is on to something regarding the US air traffic control system. If Canada’s not-for-profit corporation, NAV Canada, is safer, more modern, streamlined, and “doesn’t cost taxpayers a cent,” why shouldn’t the United States choose NAV Canada to operate the US system?
If National Grid, a British entity, and one of the largest utility companies in the world, can provide power systems in the United States, why can’t NAV Canada serve this country? Since it’s not politically influenced and has a solid financial status, it can implement a state-of-the art transition without the excessively expensive learning curve needed to update the current US operation. It will be a godsend, and no new high-priced CEO to boot.
Joseph Boyd
Judith James
Danvers