Reining in government spending has become a political fixation in North America and Europe, with Europe engaging in, at times, draconian budget cutting. In the United States, the wisdom of further cutting government spending while the economy is struggling to regain its vigor is still a point of heated debate. However, while early returns from the European experience are not encouraging, that’s not the point of this discussion.
What is the point is the stunning news from Capitol Hill in Washington that a deal has been crafted to fund the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for four full years, including development of the NextGen revolution of air traffic control (ATC). If you’re not a close observer of politics, this might seem to be merely good news. But if you’ve been watching FAA operate for five years without a real budget — using 23 separate short-term continuations to stay in business, plus two weeks of partial shutdown — then this is a bombshell of immense propor…
