If you're ever wondering why something in the U.S. can't be made better, the answer is often that the existing rent-collectors must be allowed to continue collecting their rent at all costs. This is why we can't have the government file taxes on our behalf: because Intuit would no longer be collecting rent, and rent-collecting must be protected at all costs. This is why we can't have a single-payer healthcare system: because insurance companies must keep collecting their rent. This is why the TSA is here to stay: it collects rent from the taxpayers, the airports, and the passengers.
Any modification to the system must include ways for the rent-collectors to continue collecting rent from someone. TSA Precheck is a way for you to say: it's fine, TSA, I'll pay rent directly to you, so that I can avoid the worst parts of your services. It, of course, has nothing to do with actually pre-checking that certain passenger are low-risk -- it's just a solution to the problem of "but if we made the system more efficient, how would we still collect rent?" Collect it directly from the passengers themselves, for the privilege of avoiding the worst parts of dealing with you.
I'll add that one solution is to simply not fly through TSA airports.
I flew JSX last weekend and security was a swab for explosives and a metal detector. It took 30 seconds. Ticket says to arrive to the airport 15 minutes before departure. I'm not sure how scalable flying out of regional airports is, but the extra $200 was worth the price for a) not burning an hour arriving and b) having a large enough seat to work while airborne.
And the other option is of course to invest in HSR where possible.
I don’t typically spend an hour at the airport either.
This is why SFO is generally amazing and my favorite airport in the country. I often show up after boarding has started and have never been close to missing a flight.
The difference being that the TSA is the government, and the government collects that rent whether or not the TSA exist.
It's not that rent collectors must continue to be able to collect rent, it's that "it'll put people out of a job", no matter whether those jobs ever made any sort of sense, and actively make people's lives worse. Jobs are near-religiously sacred to the US mindset.
“ This is why we can't have the government file taxes on our behalf: because Intuit would no longer be collecting rent, and rent-collecting must be protected at all costs. ”
AKA The Shirky principle, which was discussed in great depth last week
In France the employer manages your income taxes, and then for the vast, vast majority of people (I would guess 90%) the tax filing is a 2 minutes work.
I think that since last year if you do not file them, they are automatically filed for you according to the info the govt has
Same for Finland... Takes me 5 minutes to go and add deduction for using home office and half of the internet bill. And any peripherals I got for work...
And if I didn't have any of those, well I wouldn't even need to touch whole thing.
Ya most sane countries have a PAYE (pay as you earn) type system with no involvement at all from the employee unless they make money in other ways that they need to declare (investments, etc).
Does TSA pre-check include any sort of background check? If so, that at least will flag someone with a criminal background. Although that doesn’t necessarily translate to the benefits of TSA pre-check of keep your shoes on and laptop in your bag. So even then it’s just paying to cut the line.
question: is there another country now doing airport security better?
I did a bunch of international travel a few years ago and found the process to be fairly standard. Didn’t feel as if other countries are quite so obsessed with removing shoes, but they seemed a bit more obsessed with additional carryon screening.
Helsinki airport was recently redone, and now the security doesn't require you to remove laptops from your bags. It's not perfect, but very welcome change for someone in charge of carrying electronics for the whole family.
Security at Frankfurt this past December felt like a lighter touch and better organized than TSA in Orlando or Houston, but still attentive and likely to catch something that shouldn’t be taken onto the plane.
It's not the same level, you don't have to take off your shoes for example.
In some airports (like in Haneda) you don't even have to pull anything out of your bag. Bag on the conveyor belt, yourself through the gate and you're done.
> the answer is often that the existing rent-collectors must be allowed to continue collecting their rent at all costs.
Well, to be fair, this is also the case in other parts of the world. They just differ in what part of the economy the rent-seekers have latched themselves on.
(Though I have to agree that allowing them into healthcare was a uniquely bone-headed decision.)
"This is why we can't have the government file taxes on our behalf: because Intuit would no longer be collecting rent, and rent-collecting must be protected at all costs."
The US government took the initiative to create this system. AFAICT, Intuit will not be collecting rent for anyone who uses it. Perhaps this will not be a significant number of people but this nonetheless contradicts the assertion in the parent comment that the US government must protect Intuit's rent collection "at all costs".
Any modification to the system must include ways for the rent-collectors to continue collecting rent from someone. TSA Precheck is a way for you to say: it's fine, TSA, I'll pay rent directly to you, so that I can avoid the worst parts of your services. It, of course, has nothing to do with actually pre-checking that certain passenger are low-risk -- it's just a solution to the problem of "but if we made the system more efficient, how would we still collect rent?" Collect it directly from the passengers themselves, for the privilege of avoiding the worst parts of dealing with you.