airlines 777 jet crossed a runway as a smaller cargo plane was landing. and then days before that, an american airlines flight at jfk crossed in front of a delta plane trying to take off. and then there is the near miss in austin, where a fedex plane almost landed on top of a southwest flight. i want to bring in our aviation expert david soucie, who has tried to make me feel better about these things. but david, i m starting to think these are not all anomalies. it s going to feel like there s one of these a week that we report on. it seems like they are a lot more often. and that s only because they are more often right now. if you look at the traffic that s going on in boston right now, boston is at 12,000 flights in january 2021. and now it s come up to 29,000 into january 2023. so, it s nearly three times as much traffic. and they re spacing the airplanes a lot closer together to try to get them out faster. this particular one, alisyn, to make you feel more comfortable
i don t know why i m supposed to feel better about that. but don t private planes have to follow the same rules, or i guess not? i mean, i would guess so, right. i think the big thing here is as flyers, as consumers, you and i just don t know what s going on. all we see is a story like this every week. and we re seeing more and more them might as people try to break back and travel after covid. i did not even know there s more flights now than there was before covid. all i know is the faa is definitely, you know, understaffed, underfunded, as been reported. the budget in 2022 was 18.5 billion dollars for the faa, which is actually less than it was in 2004 adjusted for inflation. so, we have more flights. you know, we probably need better technology. we re in the 20 twenties. but why is the budget less than it wasn t 2024? john, there was a big infrastructure bill that passed. is that supposed to be helping with some of the stuff? 25 billion dollars worth of health on the way, all
period. the little old guys, are getting snookered at every turn by the profiteers and the price gouging. take gas prices. the big energy companies are laughing all the way to the bank right now. bp secured its biggest windfall in 40 years last quarter with 8.5 billion dollars in profit. exxonmobil managed to do one better, reaping some 17.9 billion dollars in its fattest ever quarterly profit. take food prices. america s four biggest meat processors have used in their monopoly to triple their triple their margins since 2020. take online shopping as well. inflation is not hurting the almighty amazon. on the contrary, folks, it saw a 333% increase in profit between 2020 and earlier this year. these are easy targets, democrats. to be fair, the president has made this point from time to time. listen. they pay their bills, and some corporate executives are
place. it is a very dangerous place. that s why we need an airplane like this. but the f-35 doesn t come cheap. the pentagon recently announced it will spend nearly 8.5 billion dollars for 90 of these single engine stealth jets that can take on competitors in the air as well as targetses on the ground. targets on the ground. you know it s been criticized for the expense, the cost. it surely has. is it worth it? i think it is worth every single penny. i have flown f-16s for 26 years and i have flown the f-35 and this is the airplane i would want to take to combat with me. why? it is because of the stealth and the advanced technology. the stealth gives you the ability to be in a place and nobody knows you are there. do you think americans should sleep better at night knowing this thing is out there? absolutely. i believe it will take us into the future not just for us but for our allies and partners. talk about the fact that it is used by all the services that fly
it is a very dangerous place. that s why we need an airplane like this. but the f-35 doesn t come cheap. the pentagon recently announced it will spend nearly 8.5 billion dollars for 90 of these single engine stealth jets that can take on competitors in the air as well as targetses on the ground. targets on the ground. you know it s been criticized for the expense, the cost. it surely has. is it worth it? i think it is worth every single penny. i have flown f-16s for 26 years and i have flown the f-35 and this is the airplane i would want to take to combat with me. why? it is because of the stealth and the advanced technology. the stealth gives you the ability to be in a place and nobody knows you are there. do you think americans should sleep better at night knowing this thing is out there? absolutely. i believe it will take us into the future not just for us but for our allies and partners. talk about the fact that it is used by all the services that fly? you