Even standard airplanes, not just Boeing, nowadays have a lot to do with int trade. Evewrything nis not made here anymopre and customers are not just local. A small segment , but most gliders and many acro planes are foreign. Also avionics ,instruments. tiress.
Trade agreements may affect labor rates and labor is a big part of airplane costs.
And thanks for those who have given their best answer, or tried to.
Last edited by Bill Greenwood; 10-27-2016 at 10:39 AM.
Part of the problem, I think is the fact that most of us have a thinner skin regarding our flying skills and construction ability than we do our politics. You can post a story about a close call, where you really did handle it correctly, and some dip**** will claim "YOU VIOLATED FAR XXXXX AND THUS ARE A PEA-BRAINED IDIOT!"Originally Posted by martymayes
Because EAA related topics don't seem to generate much interest and participation?
On the other hand, in my experience, most people who bring up Politics WANT a fight. They're troll-bait.
Bill's original start to this thread was due to honest curiosity, but it leaves things wide open for others to start laying blame on particular parties or politicians.
The problem is, this is sort of thing can be used to justify discussion of ANY Subject:
"The current child-support mess I'm in could happen to ANY pilot!"
"Selling Amway products will give you more money to support your flying!"
"As soon as generous persons like you help pay his bail, Prince Ngatu will revitalize General Aviation in Nigeria!"
"These pictures of nekkid women will exercise your heart, and help you pass your next medical!" (maybe not, but what the heck)
Back a hundred years ago, when officers were declared gentlemen upon the granting of their commissions, their informal meeting places (Officer's club, wardroom, etc.) had one basic rule: No discussions of politics, religion, or women. It's still not a bad rule. There are thousands of sites to discuss politics, there are hundreds of thousands of sites to discuss religion, and, gawd knows, millions of places to discuss women. You can count decent sites dedicated to general homebuilding topics on the fingers of one hand.
So... the basic problem, I think, is people are bored. There aren't enough discussions going on. The solution to that is to START one!
Don't make me post another headset story! :-)
Ron "And I solder this wire over here...." Wanttaja
Roger that, Kyle.
In that vein, I submit that FAA has (again) approved a TURKEY DROP someplace in Arkansas. First we must make a deal with Ankara to import more birds.
I have specifically asked all here not to make this about anyones politics.
Some of these agreements go back decades and do not represent one side.
And anyone who claims that these agreements are all bad/ all good or who gives the credit/blame to one side is probably not being accurate.
Let us say someone asked about pro/con of electric airplane engines. One can point out that they are under development, seem clean, but still electicy or batteries have to be manufactured somewhere..
Its not necessary to discuss any political side who is pro or con on these, or perhaps diesel engines.
We could have a topic about flying into Cuba, was an Osh lecture, and ( lots of airports, avgas only at two, lots of poor hotels, people friendly to Americans,) etc. No one needs to point out which party or candidates are pro/con on Cuba travel.
You could discuss ADS-B , certainly a political program, but dont need to talk about any party or candidate to cover the tech facts like costs etc.
Last edited by Bill Greenwood; 10-27-2016 at 01:55 PM.
Thank you for clarifying that. I heard it was a "TURNKEY" drop, and wondered, "Do they have too many prison guards in Arkansas?"
Ron "Cheap Jokes-R-Us" Wanttaja
These "discussions" inevitably turn political. I've seen it on the Red Board, the Blue Board, the Purple Board, the Warbird Information Exchange, and a dozen other forums where I participate. Most of those forums have completely banned political topics because they inevitably devolve into a brawl, with people taking sides and pigeonholing others simply because they don't share the same political conventions. And then you don't have a nice forum where everyone is there to talk about the supposed subject at hand.
On the other hand, there are plenty of political forums out there. If you want to "poke the bear", go there. I'm sure the folks who want to discuss National Policy and other important subjects will be there, all ready for a Hatfield and McCoy style feud.
Me? I'd rather come to a forum where the topic is airplanes or something aviation related, and where I can escape the stench of politics for a few minutes a day.
And I will add that anyone who has 3 minutes can review the threads you've started in the last month or so. All troll-bait and not appropriate (IMO) for this forum. Rosenburgs? 60 Minutes? Aviation after the election? Amelia Earhart? "Study showing 40 cops guilty of rape".
Last edited by Kyle Boatright; 10-27-2016 at 06:44 PM.
International trade agreements could be good or bad, depending on what's in them. Free trade is generally good for all participating countries, because more competition leads to better prices, better products, more specialization, better productivity, and greater wealth. For example, oranges grow better in Florida and cherries grow better in Michigan, so Floridians and Michiganders are better off if they can trade freely.
Free trade can cause disruptions when one country has an abundance of low skilled workers willing to work for low wages. They compete for work with Americans who can't or won't develop high-paying skills.
But the main problem is these agreements can contain ANYTHING unrelated to free trade, and if we are not allowed to know what's in them, I assume it's bad.
Last edited by dougbush; 10-27-2016 at 11:53 PM.
BTW, Bill Greenwood, alas, there is no unbiased, omniscient authority to which we can refer for "fact checking." The so-called fact checkers are people with an agenda trying to profit by criticizing those with whom they disagree. Here's how they do it:
Suppose you said, "It's a beautiful day!" Fact checker searches for someone to contradict you, and cites "BBC reported five people died in a flash flood in Indonesia that day." Fact checker rates your statement as Mostly False. Fact checker does the same with seven other carefully selected quotes from you, plus two that he agrees with, and publishes his blog saying that 80% of your claims are lies.
Meh.
The executive is overstated when it comes to international trade, as they can sweeten or poison deals that are started, but in the end it's big corporations that are already international and legislatures that do the heavy lifting in that realm.
That's the whole debate about "fast track" authority to the President when doing deals. What "fast track" means is that Congress is telling him to assemble a team, negotiate the best deal he can, and when he comes back they'll put it to an up-or-down vote without modification to the terms. In reality it means that the President is keen to inform Congressional leadership on both sides what the deal is shaping up to look like and ensure there are no serious deal stoppers when he gets back.
The State Department might be paying for the plane to Country X to get the Boeing, Cessna, and other aviation execs there, but it was a Senator that handed them the manifest for the flight. And the bulk of the deal has already been done in the months of lobbying by corporations in the other country. Boeing doesn't wait for government to start a deal for the purchase of airliners by Saudi Arabia or Japan or Wherever; they're just want a nice photo op and a public announcement to help seal the deal and appeal to their share holders.
There is only one world leader who has absolute control on international trade in and out of his country, and last I checked North Korea ain't doing so hot.
[addendum]
For all the doom-and-gloom apocalyptic predictions about our country if X wins or Y wins in the election, let's all take a deep breath for a second. Every nation and person who has predicted the decline and fall of the USA has been proven wrong in a spectacular fashion. We are made from discord, designed for discord, and thrive because of our discord. We are great because we're always one election/event/war/treaty from disaster. As a nation we learn (slowly), adapt (usually through wild swings that slowly come to a middle), and grow (in fits and starts, unequally, until a new and better balance is achieved), only to repeat the process.
Frank "Canada is too cold" Giger
The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
In my opinion, bureaucratic inertia is so high that the person at the top has less influence than people think. A few hot-button ideas might get more attention, but for the most part, peoples' lives aren't going to change much. Let's not forget Congress, too...as much as we would like to. There's rarely a consensus, even within parties, so when the Executive and Legislative branches are the same parties, there's enough fractures to prevent things from getting railroaded through.
Congress needs to stop surrendering its power to the Executive branch, though. Most of us were probably old enough to remember the post-Vietnam limitations placed on the President to keep him (or her) from taking the country to war on their own. Congress has basically given up its power in that regard...don't want to be on the record as voting for (or against) a military action. Gosh, that might affect their re-election chances!
Ron "South America stole our name" Wanttaja
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