While everyone’s focusing on the current situation with the airlines, few people are asking why it’s so important for them to make the safety changes now, especially when it’s already been proved that we’ve been flying in unsafe planes for years. Maybe it has more to do with the rising cost of fuel and the fact that airlines are breaking even or losing money on fuel every time they put a plane in the air. Of course, no one wants to fault the oil companies for anything, and we pretend they’re above reproach, so the major airlines can’t come out and say, “We can’t afford to fly because fuel prices are so high.” That would allow for a lot of criticism that the government can’t answer.
Without a massive protest, without airlines shutting down and giving us the real reason, without truckers staying off the road for more than a few hours, without people refusing to drive to work because they can’t afford gas, there will never be a change. DRIVE LESS, FLY LESS, BUY LOCAL GOODS!!!
Here’s a really good reason to conserve fuel: 4,032 US Soldiers killed in Iraq; 29,676 US soldiers wounded in Iraq.
AMEN! You preach it, sister. You know, I do wonder about something I heard recently. I heard someone say that if the Prez decided to go to the oil companies and said “We WILL NOT pay more than $xxx”, they would have to concur. Of course they might TRY to continue selling oil and gasoline to us, but eventually - since we’re their major customer - if we held out, they’d be forced to give in. I wonder if that’s true?
I’m sure it is, but I’ll do some research and get back to you. Life is nuts at the moment.
You know, maybe I’m being naive, but wouldnt the solution to high fuel prices be… raise ticket prices? I mean, so what if you lose customers? That cant last too long because eventually those undercutting you by losing money will be forced to go out of business. Or is the competition to see who can lose the most money?
Scientific American published an article on how $420 billion spent on solar panel over the next 40 years would rid ourselves of our overseas gas problem once and for all. Great article. It was in the January issue. It’s my next post, but I’m still writing it up so it may not be there for a few days.
They can’t raise ticket prices because most of their business comes from commuter fliughts that people won’t be able to afford if rates go up.
That’s illogical. You cannot raise tickets because you’ll go out of business from lack of passengers. So instead you go out of business because you lost money on each of those passengers due to underpricing. Either way you loose, and the commuters continue to live what is, really, an unsustainable lifestyle. The affordability of fuel is partially what’s gotten us into this mess in the first place (that and unabashed gluttony).
I want safety. So I don’t mind the delays.
And we really do need to look at alternative energies.
Corn for fuel & not for food says it all. “We” seem to want to feed an SUV but not a human