"Tom S." wrote in message
...

"Tarver Engineering" wrote in message
...

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Matthew S. Whiting" wrote in message
...

Because most private companies that perform functions similar
to
governmental agencies are more efficient.

Sure, susccessful private companies are forced by competition to
be more
efficient or fail. But you can't have competition in ATC.

That's what the Bell System thought on Long Distance calling back in
the
70's and 80's regarding their industry.

If the phone company screws up, your call doesn't go through. If
Tony's ATC Service and Aluminum Siding Company gets the low bid and
then screws up, you die. If Big Jimbo's Fire Department and Auto
Repair screws up, you die. If Slick Sammy's Police and Pet Grooming
Station screws up, you die. There's a qualitative difference here,
which is why historically we have tended not to privatize these
functions, at least in the sense of auctioning it off to the lowest
bidder who wants to make a profit at it.

Within a few days, you'll be able to switch phone providers at will
and keep your old phone number. You can't do that with ATC, switching
contractors willy-nilly when one kills people or another comes along
with a better price.

Automation is the natural competitor of civil service.

And if they fail to deliver the goods, someone else gets the deal
(unless
ATC is privatized the way Qwest, the Postal DisService, and most
utilities
are chartered.

So are you volunteering to be the DOA from the ATC screw-up that gets
Tony dumped for incompetence?

As I said in my previous post, it's not about profitability. If we
get ATC privatization, it likely will be a government-chartered
corporation dominated by the airlines (with token representation for
government, GA, and other stakeholders) to tailor the system to their
needs - not the least of which will be keeping airline user costs to a
minimum. Not that that is inherently bad, but look at what happened
to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (two government chartered mortgage
corporations set up to serve home buyers) when they realized that they
could make big bucks using questionable accounting practices.

The current system is far from perfect, but let's not kid ourselves.
ATC privatization, whatever form it takes, will involve trade-offs
that affect safety. The only relevant question is whether these could
be managed so that we do not get unacceptable outcomes.

-- John Mazor
"The search for wisdom is asymptotic."

"Except for Internet newsgroups, where it is divergent..."
-- R J Carpenter