Leadership Quote by Norm Dicks

“More than 60,000 jobs have been lost” is the kind of statistic politicians reach for when they want to turn an abstract policy fight into a moral ledger. Norm Dicks isn’t describing aviation as a consumer experience or a national security asset; he’s framing it as a workplace, a payroll, a community. The number does the heavy lifting: it’s big enough to feel like a crisis, specific enough to sound incontestable, and vague enough to avoid naming culprits. “More than” is a small rhetorical trick, too: it implies the damage could be worse than we can even quantify, inviting urgency without demanding precision.

The choice of “since 1999” quietly loads the timeline. It folds the dot-com-era peak, post-9/11 shock, recession pressures, airline bankruptcies, mergers, and the long squeeze of deregulated competition into one cumulative story of decline. That’s strategic. Instead of pinning blame on a single administration or event, it suggests a systemic failure that requires systemic intervention - typically code for federal relief, labor protections, or industry support.

Subtext: these aren’t just jobs, they’re middle-class anchors tied to airports, manufacturing supply chains, and union contracts. Saying “commercial aviation industry” broadens the casualties beyond pilots and flight attendants to mechanics, ground crews, and contractors - a coalition-building phrase designed for committee rooms and appropriations battles. It’s also an argument about what kind of economy we’re willing to tolerate: one where efficiency, consolidation, and low fares are purchased with steady work. The line is a pressure point, not a history lesson.