The question needs to be asked: Why does Barack Obama hate airplanes? Especially when his campaign bought him such a sweet ride in 2008? While his National Labor Relations Board does everything it can to scuttle airplane construction in South Carolina, he’s busy trashing corporate jets in ways that are impacting their ability to recover from the recession. It’s as if the president wants to push airplane manufacturing out of the United States entirely.
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPO) President Craig Fuller told The Daily Caller that Obama’s comments have cast a pall over the industry, causing many who were considering buying a plane to back away from making a purchase.
“The industry has suffered terribly in the last two and a half years and it has just started to recover. Most of the signs were starting to look good,” said Fuller. “We are so angry as an industry and we have all come together to try to bring a more fair and balanced description to the debate.”
In response to Obama’s press conference, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) issued a letter to the president. The two organizations challenged the administration’s rhetoric and recalled a similar instance in which 20,000 IAM workers were laid off as a result of “ill-informed criticism of corporate jets and business aviation” and the 2008 downturn.
IAM, by the way, is the same union for whom Obama’s NLRB is attacking Boeing in South Carolina.
This corporate jet noise is all about class warfare, of course, and reminds me of another round of counterproductive Democrat economic demagoguery. It was back in the 1980s, and the Democrats went on and on about the luxury yacht industry. They raised taxes on luxury yachts, to stick it to the rich people who buy them. Well, some rich people elected not to buy themselves a new yacht because of the tax, which didn’t hurt the rich but instead ended up hurting the people who build the yachts. Hint: They’re not rich. And such will be if Obama keeps slamming the jet industry. They may end up going overseas, or losing business to overseas manufacturers.
Add to that, that Obama has cancelled NASA’s manned space flight program after tomorrow’s final shuttle launch for foreseeable future, and the cancellations of advanced military craft like the F-22, and it’s not impossible for the US to lose our edge in aerospace pretty fast.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member