Why do so many jobs have this failure mode? Thinking about this should illuminate for you that funding is not the whole story.

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jmalicki 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Okay, so then what is? Most jobs have this failure mode because there's a tendency to strip funding until disaster happens, even when it was clearly foreseeable.

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jjk166 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Inadequate funding seems like the common factor across the vast majority of jobs with these failure modes.

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smallerize 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Well, there was the time Ronald Reagan fired all the ATC workers [Edit: I had the reason wrong but I still blame Reagan.]

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coredog64 2 hours ago | parent [-]

They were already in a union (PATCO) and they were striking illegally which lead to their decertification.

	▲	travisgriggs 4 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Huh. This seems selectively simplified. At least according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Professional_Air_Traffic_.... Multiple economic write ups have concluded that Reagan’s “stick it to the upstart guy” cost us tax payers way more than it would if they’d just acceded and maybe even thrown in a gracious bonus to say thanks. Larger sociology say the intangible cost to labor balance laws actually were much more. Reagan’s trickle down (great euphemism for “piss on”) movement was the beginning of the demise of the GOP IMO. Disclaimed: I voted both times for him and many GOP followers.
	▲	cogman10 an hour ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		What's impressive is that if you look at the issues PATCO struck over, it was basically identical to the problems ATC faces today. The problem being that everything has only gotten a lot worse for ATC controllers. The union pretty loudly and early on pointed out major problems with that job and the response of ignoring them for 4 decades is what's driven us to the current situation.
	▲	kadoban an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Technically accurate. A union that isn't allowed to legally strike when needed isn't a useful union though. The state that ATC has been in for the decades after that suggests to me that they were correct to strike.