In my previous post I wrote about a problem with many public policies: the fact that we often focus only on their benefits while ignoring their costs. Many times we see government agencies implementing such policies being rewarded for their benefits while not absorbing any of their costs. TSA is a perfect example of such an agency. TSA gets rewarded for coming up with screening procedures that deter terrorists--but are not punished if those procedures are too costly for the non-terrorist passengers. TSA doesn't care if the lowered risk of terrorist acts due to their procedures warrants the huge amount of time wasted at the security gates, or the inconvenience caused to passengers diverted from flights or put on no-fly lists because of TSA's oversensitivity.
Or about the inconvenience caused to a world famous classical pianist by seizing and destroying his piano at the airport because it smelled funny. This happened to a Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman shortly after September 11 at New York's JFK airport. Apparently Zimerman alters his instruments by hand, and always travels to concerts with his own customized Steinway. On one of such trips, TSA confiscated his piano and then subsequently destroyed it because, as they said, the glue in it smelled like explosives. This has prompted Zimerman to 1) start traveling with his piano dismantled into little pieces that he would later reassemble on his own before concerts; 2) embark on a weird rant during one of his shows about how the U.S. military wants to control the entire world and 3) announce that he would cease to play in the U.S. altogether.
Shame on you, TSA, for the ridiculous "take off your shoes and belts" routine at the security gates, and for destroying Zimerman's piano. And here is how this piano sounds: Zimerman playing Chopin's Ballade No. 4 in F Minor (the most beautiful piece of music I have heard so far).
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