None. That’s Ninguno, Aucun, Keiner, Zero!

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

.

In the summer in Farnborough in Hampshire, England one of the biggest events in the aviation industry takes place. It’s call the Farnborough Air Show.

I remember when I used to work in that industry helping to prepare invitations, information packs, and all the usual PR stuff. Farnborough is THE place to meet and greet both those who buy aircraft and those firms like Boeing and AIrbus who build them and provide tens of thousands of jobs for smaller companies.

So it is an important event.

At this year’s show they named the world’s best airline, in fact they named the top ten best airlines.

And despite the United States building some of the best airplanes in the world, and despite the United States having some of the world’s largest and busiest airlines, do you know how many United States airlines made it into the top ten?

The title of this post probably gave it away. The answer is….

None. That’s ninguno, aucun, keiner, zero!

Even the regional category for North America was won by Air Canada.

Apparently, not only are air travelers in America to be treated as potential terrorists, herded and prodded and scanned and humiliated when they are trying to get on to an airplane. But when they do, the comfort and service they can expect will be second rate.

I think that’s a disgrace. America should be leading the world in the standard of their airlines. They should be at least one, if not more, of the top ten list every year offering a consistently high standard that their customers (that’s you and me) deserve.

And this award is decided by the votes of millions of travelers, so customers’ opinions do count.

So time for United States airlines to ditch those bureaucratic bean counters who decide that they can squeeze just another row of seats into an airplane so that everyone is uncomfortable. In the long term this kind of thinking doesn’t save you money, it loses you money. And when your customers vote for the best airline, they don’t vote for you!

For those of you who are interested, this year’s best airline was the Hong Kong based Cathay Pacific. They were voted best performer across all types of travel, economy, and luxury.

Cathay Pacific World’s Best Airline 2014

Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines placed second and third respectively in the global category, with last year’s winner, Emirates, slipping to fourth. Fifth to tenth places went to Turkish Airlines, ANA All Nippon Airways, Garuda Indonesia, Asiana Airlines, Etihad Airways and Lufthansa respectively.

.

================================================================

.

“Nobody Move…….”

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

.

.

A short Sunday Sermon on Wednesday – yes things are that confused!

.

If it were a scene from the movie Blazing Saddles, like the one above, it would be funny.

But it’s a scene from Washington DC, the capital of the most powerful nation on earth – and it is pathetic!

Yet again we have seen ‘democracy’ at work.

Yet again we have seen people thrown out of work as a result of the imbeciles in Washington DC.

Yet again the Senate and the House are in gridlock over the paper exercise of raising the debt ceiling so that America can continue to spend money it does not have on things it does not need.

The Republicans are focused on just one of the things America can’t afford and that’s Obamacare.

The President and the Democrats have dug their heels in and won’t compromise in any way shape or form. They are calling the Republicans stubborn.

The Republicans have a completely different argument. They are calling the President and the Democrats stubborn.

The Democrats claim that the Republicans are destroying the nation and don’t care about the sick and needy. 

The Republicans claim that the Democrats have no fiscal responsibility and don’t understand anything about the budget.

House Republicans voted in favor of an amendment to the spending bill that would delay ObamaCare’s individual mandate for one year. The vote was 228-201.

The Senate then promptly rejected the House bill and sent it back.

My Dad is better than your Dad.

No he isn’t.

Yes he is.

No he isn’t.

Yes he…… and on and on it goes!

A couple of kids in the playground might be excused for such behavior. Elected representatives cannot.

.

The result?

For the first time in seventeen years Federal agencies have been ordered to “execute plans for an orderly shutdown,” meaning around 800,000 federal workers will be furloughed immediately and another million or so, including Border Patrol agents and air traffic controllers, will be asked to work without pay.

America has held a gun to its own head and made itself a laughing stock throughout the rest of the world.

Harsh words perhaps, but true.

But there are always positives in everything, if one looks hard enough.

What this latest debacle has raised is the very important question of whether or not America really needs a government and bureaucracy as big as the one it currently has? 

If you have any sympathy at all with the theme of this blog, the “Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy” both of which have been highlighted during the past few days, then your answer to that question should be NO!

.

=========================================

.