Our dysfunctional Congress blocked the re-funding of the FAA, and as of Sunday now our already rickety, abysmally-underfunded air traffic control system is losing $25 million per day. Meanwhile, greedy airlines (almost all of them) are quietly pocketing the same 7.5% of ticket prices that has been set aside to run the FAA.

Our nation’s air traffic control system is shockingly antiquated as it is. If more people knew just how bad it is, no one would set foot on a plane again. And I’m just talking about the equipment here: there’s a whole other world of problems with the FAA’s staffing.

So, why starve the FAA of even more money? To break the unions, of course.

House Republicans are playing chicken with our nation’s air safety. When do the grown-ups get to drive the country again?

Let’s talk about taxes. Wait a second, come back here! I mean airfare taxes.

The subject comes up because of what Congress just did — or, rather, did not do — and what the airlines did in response.

On Friday, Congress failed to approve the extension of a bill to keep the Federal Aviation Administration running. Among other things, that meant the agency no longer had the authority to impose the various federal taxes that airlines add to the price of each ticket.

So as of 12:01 a.m. Saturday, the federal government began losing an estimated $25 million a day in tax revenue.

via Airlines Raise Fares as Federal Taxes Expire – NYTimes.com.