I would be truly shocked if things were settled by Friday, and think both sides want to hit the wall and go over the cliff just so they can say we were right. One of the things that gripes me is congress has more salary and benefits than any other American yet they cannot stay at their work place and get the job done! I have so little respect for these so called leaders of our country that do not do their jobs and put a political spin on everything at the expense of our country. As for the air traffic controllers why does the federal government have to come up with ALL the money to run the air traffic system in the U.S. Certainly, every plan that takes off and lands could be assessed a fee and not just the airport fee, but one specifically for the air traffic controllers Heck, the passengers pay for every other little detail when they fly today. Why does our government pay a company to do research and develop so many things eventually turned over to civilian use and yet they get no royalties for these same products when sold to anyone else. (t is the same thing as if you worked for a company and developed a new item. You personally do not own the item the company does and all the rights to it. So why isn't the government doing the same claiming their rightful ownership and collecting fees or royalties for things they, we the tax payers, paid for in the first place?