News Munchies
It'll Pay for Itself in 240 Years
Originally Posted
Updated
The Kansas City Star, which has never seen a tax it didn't like, has been pimping for demolition of Kansas City International Airport's roughly-40-year-old terminals, so local contractors can reap $1.2 billion in taxpayer largesse for new infrastructure and a new terminal.
One of their most amusing arguments, which they attribute to consultants: "If KCI could add better concessions and reach the average [of 19 peer airports], that could bring in $5 million extra a year from passengers."
Let's see, $1.2 billion for a brand-new terminal and other improvements. And $5 million more revenue each year from concession sales.
At that rate, Kansas City could pay for the new terminal with concessions alone -- in 240 years.
Logic and internal consistency clearly aren't too important to The Star's Editorial Board. In their breathless editorial, "KCI's future is crucial to a healthy business community," they say, "The four-decade-old terminals aren’t the best way to introduce potential clients and top recruits to the city," and, later, "... the revamped airport within a few decades could be serving a community of close to three million people."
Apparently, The Star operates from a pretty narrow mathematical window, complaining that four-decade-old terminals are too old, while, at the same time, appearing satisfied that "a few decades" of age would be just fine.
Oh, fine. It sounds like a local issue.
But here at CornerBarPR.com®, we love journalistic idiocy -- particularly self-serving journalistic idiocy -- wherever we come across it.