Qasim Rashid, Esq.Dec 27, 2022

Short rant.

Southwest Air has cancelled ~70% of its flights in an epic meltdown this holiday season.

Remember, Southwest took $3.7B in federal aid from 2020-21.

It’s CEO got a pay raise to a $9.1M package in 2022.

Yet Southwest employees are working 16 hour shifts & threatened w/termination if they refuse overtime or call in sick.

Socialism for the wealthy. Capitalism for workers.

Stop trusting billionaires. Start holding them accountable. And start protecting workers.

End Rant.

Show threadVaguely here 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈Dec 27, 2022

@QasimRashid please can we just build high speed rail across the US? We could eliminate basically all domestic flights with a proper high speed rail network, and have massively lower emissions, and tell these billionaires to sod off.

Win-win-win.

Show threadQasim Rashid, Esq.Dec 27, 2022
@pyoor I would give anything for high speed rail. Truly would be a game changer. Imagine a train going from Chicago to DC in 2.5 hours. I'd do it in a heartbeat over flying.
Show threadBouriquet
@QasimRashid @pyoor Yes but in principle it’s a great idea. But compared to Europe, the distances are greater, the climate extremes are greater and infrastructure is sorely lacking. Getting customers to accept rail is another issue. Then there’s the staggering costs. Europe built their systems in the 1970s and 80s
Dec 27, 2022 at 9:23pmWeb
Show threadVaguely here 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈Dec 28, 2022

@bouriquet @QasimRashid reading up recently I saw an article about the staggering costs of US infrastructure projects being about 'jobs for the boys' more than the actual cost of materials or work.

And sure, the distances are big - but the long term costs of continuing air travel instead of developing a long term public transit strategy are immense.