If ever there was a friend to the aerospace industry on Capitol Hill, it is Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), a Republican leader on the powerful House Appropriations Committee and a candidate for the U.S. Senate in the 2010 elections, according to a report in the July newsletter of the National Aeronautic Association. Tiahrt, who worked for The Boeing Co. in Wichita for 14 years and has been serving in Congress since 1995, spoke to NAA members at the association’s June luncheon, where he outlined “five things we must do” to recover economically. They are:
- Cut taxes for people who create jobs
- Regulatory reform (“The benefit of a regulation has to be greater than the cost. Regulation is 17% of the cost of American business. We could be more competitive worldwide.”)
- Move healthcare back into private sector
- Pursue energy security (“The fact that we are drilling in 5,000 feet of water is because there are such restrictions on drilling in shallower water. In shallower water the leak would have been fixed by now.”)
- Litigation reform (“We need more common sense regulations such as the one that says after an aircraft has been flying for 18 years you can’t sue on the basis of a design flaw.”)
“If we did those five things we could recover in 10 months instead of 10 years,” Tiahrt declared.
Tiahrt spoke just days after a bill that would extend bonus depreciation for businesses that purchase general aviation aircraft in 2010 was introduced in the U.S. Senate. “We need another shot in the arm to sell more airplanes,” he said, noting his support of the legislation. “It breaks my heart to see my friends and neighbors still laid off. We are hurting in the airline and aerospace industries.”
For more information: NAA.aero
SEEMS THE FIRST THING WE ALWAYS HEAR FROM REPUBLICANS IS CUT TAX. THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH. NO ONE GETS MORE TAX BREAKS THAN THE OIL COMPANIES, COME ON GIVE US SOME LEADERSHIP
I don’t care that Mr. Tiahrt worked for Boeing — he’s wrong on all 5 of his recommendations:
* Cut taxes. That tired line did nothing to stop greedy bankers and hedge fund traders from wrecking our economy, even though the traders currently pay taxes at the 15% capital gains tax rate.
* Regulatory reform. It seems like the FAA’s new LSA regulations have been pretty good for GA. I don’t think we should repeal them.
* Privatize healthcare. I guess the GOP just wants to keep government away from Medicare. Healthcare reform has taken over exactly zero hospitals and zero doctors since its passage. Healthcare in our country is already privatized.
* Energy security. Right now the idea that oil companies can self-regulate their drilling practices has been thoroughly (s)oiled by the Deepwater well blow-out.
* Litigation reform. Yes, the GOP would like just the rich and powerful to use the courts.
Please go back to bucking rivets Mr. Tiahrt.
The recovery of this economy will not occur until we as an American people recover the ability to create value and consequent tangible products that address our consumption of the same.
In the US, everyone concentrates on “tax credits”. This is meaningless for start-ups and many small, private companies. We don’t make profits and after Obama’s recategorization of dividends as ordinary income, even profitable firms will pay out earnings as bonuses. Do what Canada does: give CASH reimbursements for REAL R&D. For instance, the company I’m familiar with is building a prototype pipeline surveillance plane with state-of-the-art detection devices fully integrated with gps and each other and real time data transmission, substantially funded by the Canadian government without which the project would still be on the drawing board. In return the installation work and servicing will be done in Canada as well as some of the first patrolling.
LITIGATION REFORM needs to be much BROADER IN SCOPE! Part of the reason the company is in Canada is to avoid some of the obscene consequences of American tort jurisprudence. One cannot buy sufficient insurance coverage, because the larger the coverage, the higher the demand. Consequently, this company goes bare. It paid hundreds of thousands for insurance, no claim has ever been made, yet the premium went up to the point where it was truly prohibitive and absurd. For openers, punitive damages should be banned, contingency fees be limited on a sliding scale, NTSB reports allowed as evidence in trials, juries include people who are familiar with the type of accident or injury , and forum shopping be banned.