Is Apples and Pears, Comrade.

Universal is private business and has competition from Other Theme Parks. Filthy Communists at TSA and DMV have no competition and is public (government) "service".

All you are doing is suggesting People bribe State so State hassles certain People just a little less. Is bad government, Comrade.

No, it's potatos and potatoes! ;)

If I want express service on getting a new passport I can pay for it.

If I want and express refund on my state income tax I can pay for it (by filing electronically).

If I want to get to work faster I can pay for it by taking the toll road. And soon I will be able to pay to use the HOT lanes even if I am driving alone to skip lines of traffic.

These aren't soviet-style bribes, they are fees for value-added services.

We live in a service economy now. Value added services for a fee are a huge part of this paradigm. Government would be wise to get even more with the program. @:-)

Treating everyone the same even when some are willing to pay for better treatment, now THAT is communism (or is that WN!?!?!)!!!! :p

Is a shakedown by State - nothing more.

All Passports should be "expedited". The existing wait times are insane.

Toll Road is close, but not quite same. Is extra construction because funds allegedly do not exist to fix/expand existing road. Would be fairer comparison if Comrades got to skip "security" joke all together and get right on plane.

Faster refunds on returns filed electronically are actually you doing most of the legwork of getting your information into electronic format. I'd be happy to screen myself. ;)

Again, that is prerogative of private industry, Comrade. It should not be prerogative of State. Is very bad government.

Their solution would be to raise taxes or fees to pay for additional workers and space to make the lines operate faster. Now - some of us are fine waiting 15-20 minutes and not jacking with fines and/or taxes. Others of us will pay extra to get a quicker experience. Capitalism at it's finest!

I think your problem is that it has to do with the TSA and their stupid requirements. Once you learn that that isn't going to change for a good long while maybe your life will be less stressful. Bashing Clear or anything of the sort because of your hate for the TSA is silly. It's the economic system our country is based on.

Forcing everyone to pay more taxes/fees in order to expand facilities/labor to make everyone's experience as short as some people want it is socialism at it's finest. Some people are fine waiting and not paying extra for fast service.

Your premise that the only solution is more taxes/fees renders the rest of your argument invalid.

"You can't fight the status quo!" Actually, you can. I refuse to accept 'business as usual'.

One more point: Capitalism does not extend to paying more for better services from the government. :mad: That's more commonly called a bribe.

That's funny - I pay the government ALL the time for expedited mail service. I don't see you complaining about that? According to what you are saying every piece of mail should be overnighted.

Have you noticed that it's www.usps.com now?

Also, USPS has competition. Quite a lot of it, actually.

Another quick analogy I thought of over lunch: residents or developers in many communities can pay the government to have a sewer or city water line extended to their property more quickly than it would otherwise be extended (with the effect of forcing others to wait longer).

There are hundreds of examples of the government taking this common-sense approach to charging for value-added services.

expedited mail service, e.g. overnight is actually handled as a separate product/business line. It isn't shifting a priority mail or first class mail somewhere else, it has no impact as they are two separate flows. Their biz operations, the overnight has priority if issues arise, but those are exceptions and don't happen very often. For instance, I get mail from my office in the same time as the priority and occasionally as the overnight package, but its a first class envelope not in either of those classes.

A bribe by any other name is still a bribe.

Regardless it's a government agency. You stated:

By paying for overnight shipping you ARE paying for better service from a government agency - regardless if they have competition or not. I think you are twisting things to make it sound good in your head. The government could leave overnight service to FedEx/UPS and just stick to good old snail mail, but they don't. They want to be able to meet all their customers needs so they offer it - at an increased cost. It is fundamentally no different than paying more to get inserted at the front of the line.

There are some benefits to offering services like this. In Atlanta for example Clear paid for an entire line of TSA staff for it's members. Other travelers benefited from this when their weren't any clear members waiting to proceed through security. This in effect is going to slow down security for everyone because the TSA won't be able to afford to keep up with those extra screeners. This is no different than any other government organization offering expedited services at a cost. Based on this need the revenue generally adds additional headcount who can process "regular people" who don't pay the expedited fees when they aren't busy with the people that do pay fees.

I hadn't thought of the TSA as protecting the income of the airlines until it was pointed out here. But it is. It's a fact, though there's no Klieg light on that aspect. Day in and day out. All the fast lane, love/hate Clear and TSA aside. So with our fees, we're subsidizing corporations. Just like we are subsidizing corporations' third class mail everytime we mail a letter first class. That's a fact, too. Day in and day out. And as we subsidize the trucking industry with the money going to highways. Day in and day out. Etc. These analogies are much more important, impacting and relevant here.

People, please remember, the TSA was the brainchild of and established under the most pro-business conservative administration/congress/supreme court stars lining up in the last 30 years. And so was the push to privatize the fast lane. There is a lot of ideology being spilled here, where there's a lot of irony, and think about it -- it's over a dead horse.

Again, both sides, join hands and make the TSA work for us, too.

No flying is a right. One doesn't have the right to fly with a commercial carrier, but one has the right to fly even it means buying ones own plane.

Next you'll be telling us driving is a privilege. :D

Surely you jest. That is an agency that was conceived under a defective premise and that now is so terminal that it can never be resuscitated. Forget it. It just deserves to be thrown in the trash.

Big Chinese Conglomerate Seeks IT Advice
 

I thought our company was getting a sweeeeet deal on all these used computers we bought at the Clear bankruptcy court auction, but dang, we were told these computers had already had their storage swiped. But, nooooooo, they are full of file after file after file of data on individuals. It's gonna cost us a pretty penny to swipe these files correctly to eliminate all the data and make space on the computers. :D Just kidding....