Cross' odd cross rant

Apparently, Al Cross was in a bad mood after his risky attempt with a close airline connection backfired. I like Al's work quite a bit, but it was an odd essay in Sunday's Forum section of the C-J.

He complains at length about his botched flights, airline maintenance problems and poor customer service from Delta. The market for airline services would not be the most competitive anyway (given the huge fixed costs). But a variety of government regulations make it worse-- from airport regs which prevent a market-based solution to over-crowded gates and runways to a dog's breakfast of pro-union legislation.

From there, Cross extends his gaze to other social problems-- and this time, fingers government as the culprit: from infrastructure woes to the War in Iraq.

Although Cross usually comes across as neutral, he had one potentially telling sentence down the stretch:

Most governments responsible for such systems have been derelict in their duties, too obsessed with cutting taxes to win votes and campaign contributions.

It's interesting that Cross defines dereliction as taxes that are too low-- rather than spending that is too high and a federal government that is far too busy to take care of its most basic functions with competence.

He closes with: I wished that our leaders were wiser.

Me too, Al...me too!