The part of this discussion not mentioned, and the one no one likely knows much about including myself is the ALPA budget. Would I like lower dues? Of course. I'd also like lower taxes. The trouble is one can eliminate all the extra programs and entitlements from government, and you still won't balance the budget because of the big 5: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Defense, and Interest expense. Those 5 are roughly $5 trillion out of a $6 trillion dollar budget and we take in taxes of $4 trillion. So where to cut? I'm sure the same question would apply to ALPA. I have no facts, but my guess is ALPA runs fairly lean when taken from a big picture view. I'm sure one could kind find instances of excess as one can in the Federal Budget, but the fact is the primary programs drive the costs.

Looking only at the income side of the budget is only half the equation. Before advocating for lower dues, you need to first demonstrate where ALPA is spending too much.

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying dues couldn't be lowered; I'm just saying I would need more facts to come to that conclusion.