In my last BLOG I opined that as long as the guvmint was determined to spend money on recovery it might be better for them to use that money to hire people to improve our neglected infrastructure rather than bail out Wall Street, banks and manufacturers. I was pilloried with comments accusing me of defecting from my free market beliefs, abandoning Adam Smith and, in general, attacking the foundations of he U.S.A.
Let it be known that I do hereby repent, apologize, and grovel. I see the error of my ways and promise to go and sin no more.
That being said, let us move on...
The airlines currently enjoy a warm fuzzy feeling of good will from the public, as well they should. There has been no fatality on a domestic flight for two years, and the “Miracle of the Hudson†has warmed the cockles of American hearts.
Corporate aviation, on the other hand, is wearing the devil’s horns through, as nearly as I can tell, no fault of their own, but instead from the ill-will generated by Detroit’s Big 3 when they flew three corporate jets into Washington to beg for money.
All of us should jump on the airline bandwagon and bemoan the attack on corporate aviation. Businesses—even industries—have been built around the utility of corporate aviation.
Like anything else, corporate aircraft can be abused. One recently-ousted CEO spent over one million dollars decorating his own office. That included an $87,000 rug, a $68,000 credenza and $800,000 paid to a “designer.†Now that’s abuse. But nobody has come out to attack the rug and credenza industries.