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Forest Fees were in 1997 an isolated example of the neoliberal privatization agenda at work. Few of the people with whom I then communicated even knew there was such a thing as a 'privatization agenda' or that the intended outcome was what one might reasonably call, "the Corporate Takeover of Everything". Many doubted the very existence of such an agenda. And while a decade ago the privatization agenda was already (albeit only conceptually) broad-based and far-reaching, examples of its implementation were comparatively few and far between.
Starting a decade ago, I focused attention upon what I called "The Corporate Takeover of Nature" while trying to raise general awareness for the larger issue of which recreation user fees and the associated Disneyfication of outdoor recreation were merely a small component.
Today examples abound. The tools and techniques that were pioneered and perfected with the Forest Fees/privatization experiment are being employed cookie-cutter fashion. Today the agenda can be observed everywhere and the takeover of everything is proceeding at warp speed and largely unchecked.
Appended is an Op-Ed from the Chicago Tribune which explores "solutions" to the growing problems associated with air travel. I share it in an effort to present an nearly perfect translation of Forest Privatization tools into Travel Privatization tools.
Those familiar with the privatization of outdoor recreation will see the incredible similarities -- similarities that extend right down to the fine details of technique. Those unfamiliar with the issue are invited to visit the website of the organization that claims to have invented the very word "privatization. The address is www.privatization.org --- and YES, these folks also lay claim to Forest Fees.
I'd just add that in the appended article, the $15 bag fee is of little importance. Focus your attention upon that fee and you'll miss the story completely. The guts of this article are found in what are presented as "long term" answers.
Scott
--- begin quoted ---
More trouble than $15 a bag ...
May 23, 2008
American Airlines' plan to charge $15 a bag has people outraged, of
course. No one wants to start paying for a service that forever has
been free. But if you think $15 a bag is the biggest headache in flying
these days, well, you're not flying much these days.
Air travel has become an enormous headache, and it's going to get
worse. Prepare for a summer from hell in the skies, says the Air
Transport Association of America, which represents major U.S. airlines.
Passengers will face packed airports and higher prices, and have fewer
flights available. Throw in labor unrest, summer storms, and the
inevitable delays and cancellations. This comes after a terrible
spring: nearly one of every three flights was late or canceled in March.
There's almost nothing we can do about this summer. But long term,
there are some answers to make air travel something better than a trip
to the dentist:
•Spin off the air traffic control function of the Federal Aviation
Administration into a free-standing government corporation that would
get its revenue from user fees and have access to the capital markets.
The FAA could continue to be the uber-overseer but would no longer be
responsible for managing the system. It would focus on its mission as
aviation safety regulator. This would allow the FAA to move full-speed
ahead on replacing its antiquated ground-to-air radar-based system with
one based on global-positioning satellites. That would reduce travel
times and increase aviation capacity by allowing more planes in the air
at one time. This system is sorely needed, but it has been stalled in
Congress by battles over who will pay for it. As things stand,
"NextGen," as it's called, won't be fully operational for 25 years. A
privately funded system could more quickly raise the money through user
fees.
A global-positioning system would need fewer facilities and
controllers. A privately funded agency could make those radical
operational changes without the political pressures that hamstring the
FAA, which is dependent on appropriations from Congress. Canada,
Germany and other countries have moved to privatize air traffic control.
•More capacity in the air must be matched by more capacity on the
ground. There are only so many airports and only so many miles of
runways. The solution is to lay more concrete. Build more
runways—something that is well under way at O'Hare International
Airport. Until that's accomplished, flight capacity at busy airports
such as O'Hare will be constrained.
•Left to their own competitive urges, airlines will continue to
schedule more flights in peak hours than can be handled at major
airports. And why wouldn't they? If some airlines responsibly pulled
back and cut their schedules, others would swoop in and fill the void.
The responsible airlines would lose business to its competitors and
there would still be too many flights. (This is precisely what happened
when caps were briefly lifted at O'Hare.) The number of daily flights
are restricted in some manner by the FAA in Chicago, New York and
Washington.
Congestion pricing is the solution to this problem. The U.S. Department
of Transportation should changes its rules, which require landing fees
to be based on the weight of the plane, so airports can experiment with
different formats. Weight-based fees make it cheaper for airlines to
use smaller planes, such as regional jets, even though that clogs
airports and air space. Weight-based fees also mask how much private
aviation contributes to the congestion problems at major airports.
Landing fees based on something other than weight—how much the plane
contributes to congestion or number of passengers handled, for
example—would make it cheaper for airlines to offer fewer flights on
bigger planes. Those landing fees should vary by time of day and day of
week and should be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Chicago to New
York at 8 a.m. Monday or 6 p.m. Friday would, and should, merit a much
higher price than Chicago to Topeka at noon Wednesday.
•Privatize airports. The Brookings Institute's Clifford Winston is
pessimistic about improving air travel in the U.S. as long as public
sector airports rule. The problems of delays and lack of capacity don't
lie with the airlines, he argues. "It's not their infrastructure. They
do what they're allowed to do. The source of the problems and the
solutions lie totally with the public sector."
Chicago is in the early stages of privatizing Midway Airport and the
best development plan for the new south suburban airport at Peotone
involves a private operator. Imagine the competition that could evolve
some day if Chicago's three main airports were operated by three
different private firms, which would be key to avoiding a monopoly,
each competing fiercely with the others on cost and reliability of
service.
No, none of these ideas will save you from paying $15 to check a bag.
The market will decide whether that sticks. People will factor in the
baggage cost as they surf for low airfares. If American is still
competitive, the baggage fee will stay. If fliers go elsewhere,
American will have to give up the fee.
The ideas above will go much further, though, to bring lower costs and higher reliability to the airline industry.
These ideas will have to overcome powerful resistance to change. But
absent radical changes, the air system will only deteriorate. More than
1 billion passengers are expected to take to the skies in 2016, up from
the 750 million who will fly this year. If the nation doesn't add
capacity on the ground and in the air, those fliers will have to pack
plenty of Tom Clancy novels for the long waits in the terminals and on
the tarmacs.
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