After they pay the extra $20, they'll still have to pay hundreds more for the plane ticket, food, lodging, transportation, etc. Not sure the cost of a passport is really make-or-break for foreign travel for 'those of modest means' or anyone else.
You have to think a little deeper. How about a foreign family of five that saves up every year to go back home and visit family? They stay with relatives so meals and lodging are not a significant expense. It's their one trip a year. It's now an extra $100 to renew their passports. Doesn't seem like much, but it could be a difference maker for families such as these.
Immigration process has always been costly and difficult. An extra $20 means almost nothing relative to all the requirements, paperwork, and costs needed. Aren't you on the Trump side of anti-immigration? If so, why do you even care about this $20?
I am such a person. I go to France and sleep and eat for free. But fluctuations in the price of jet fuel - times 6 to take the whole family - has a more significant impact on the cost of the trip than the price of the passport. Besides, the passport is for 10 years (5 for kids), so in your hypothetical, that extra $20 is only an extra $2 to $4 per person per annual trip. Deciding whether to get coffee at the airport is more impactful. Besides, I don't think the passport office is a profit center for the federal govt. They are just trying to cover the costs they actually have for the services they actually provide. Are you saying taxpayers should be subsidizing this immigrant family's annual trip home to see Nana?
OK, what percent of those left jobs because of mandates, versus other reasons (ie leaving jobs to take higher paying jobs)? https://www.cbsnews.com/news/job-quits-resignation-record-november-2021/
Perhaps this source will be more of your liking? A record 4.5M Americans quit their jobs in November as 'Great Resignation' persists https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/job-openings-quit-rate-november-2021-great-resignation
https://www.electrive.com/2022/01/04/denmark-aims-for-fossil-fuel-free-inland-flights-by-2030/ Push for big government action
good luck with that well that's just selfish. people should stay home as if quarantined for, well, forever
Watched a podcast that claimed big biz are putting up openings but actually aren't looking to fill all the spots. The main factor is that people who didn't get the raise they were dangled while slugging through Covid era restrictions quit and the new job openings are set to that previous pay scale. Companies are refusing to pay the market clearing wage despite the "great number of openings" they have. This does not sound like textbook inflation you hear in the news.... This is also particularly relevant for older folks (psstt boomers) who resigned the first time but are facing an HR wall for "being too experienced" or out of date (from that 6-12mo break...) for the job reqs.
Conservatives are funny AF. "If you want to work for minimum wage, get some skills and find a better job" Once people find better jobs. "How come no one wants to do back breaking work for my crappy pay, they must be lazy!!" In the mean time, they don't want to let the people willing to do those jobs at the border in the country.
