It’s TrapDraw Infrastructure Week as Randy and TC chat with former US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on a range of topics: From his favorite airports and biggest travel frustrations to the air traffic controller shortages, airline industry trends, the emergence of EVs and high-speed rail projects and a ton more.
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@Randy did you ever think you’d thank mr jeezy with mayor pete on the call?
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What’s the highest profile government person thats ever been on a NLU Podcast? Pete’s gotta be up there.
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TBH, I read this in JD Vance’s voice scolding the Ukrainian President on first reading. “Have you ever thanked Mr. Jeezy!”
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So excited for this lol
In terms of importance? Probably Pete.
Self-importance? Hunstman by a mile.
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Great pod. Smart of Pete to be doing these kinds of shows and topics.
There was a millisecond there at the end where I thought “oh my god he’s going to announce he’s running for President on the Trap Draw” 
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Need to know how this guest came to be. Had he heard of the Trap Draw?
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@Cody provided this answer on another thread. Maybe not Pete himself, but someone in the upper levels of his staff is a listener:
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I was thinking imagine the meeting of the minds between those two.
The episode was good, but the Twitter replies were better. Is there an emoji for “thinks about making reference to current events/political discourse and thinks better of it”?
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Interesting while discussing road degradation Mayor Pete didn’t draw the direct correlation between EV weight and abnormal concrete wear. Truly shocked
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Randy threw that alley-oop alllllll the way up in that last question 
it made actually laugh out loud
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Truly… say what does a ford f150 weigh?
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Less than a Model X, Rivian SUV, or Rivian Truck. Lol
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Because it’s a bit of a straw-man?
Yes. They weigh more than gas cars. But it’s a whole lot less than a semi or a bus. Even
Yes there’s a higher impact w/heavier battery cars but that’s the higher impact of a very small problem.
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It’s more of a surface street issue than interstate. In Oregon, Portland specifically, they’ve completely decimated most of the streets downtown. Was just a pretty glaring omission of a verified issue. But hey, that’s just me
EVs make up roughly 1.5% of all registered vehicles on American roads.
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Hyperbole much?
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I don’t think there are all that many controllers that make more in salary than a cabinet secretary ~250k/yr. Controllers that make that much are at the most stressful, highest traffic facilities which are unsurprisingly all in HCOL areas and working mandated 6 day work weeks due to staffing shortages, or supervisors.
There’s just not a huge pool of people that can take the years long training with low pay, have the technical ability, and are ok with working 6 day work weeks indefinitely in HCOL areas where the pay isn’t enough to get by as a single income household. The variable day/night scheduling has to be incredibly hard to maintain a healthy family life.
This is all on top of this administration being openly hostile to federal employees with a stated goal of eroding pay and benefits even further. I don’t see the staffing situation getting better anytime in the next decade because of this combination of issues.
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