How well are Americans managing their money, and how does it vary between the states?

This financial literacy map, via Visual Capitalist's Pallavi Rao, attempts to answer both questions using 2025 data from WalletHub, a personal finance services company.

They ranked and scored states on three main benchmarks: financial education, financial planning (or consumer habits), and how Wallethub’s own users performed on their financial literacy survey.

ℹ️ These benchmarks are further subdivided into 17 metrics (credit score, savings, personal finance courses, etc.) and are weighted differently. Please read the source’s methodology section for a full breakdown.

The Most Financially Savvy U.S. State

Minnesota is the most financially literate U.S. state with 73 points, according to WalletHub’s latest analysis.

Here’s some sub indicators where Minnesota outperformed the rest of the country.

• High-schoolers must take at least one personal finance program.
• Only 15% of the surveyed Minnesotans spent more than they made—the lowest across all states.
• Highest median credit score in the country (751).

And here’s how each state scores out of 100. Figures are rounded.

Rank State State Code Total Score
(Out of 100) 1 Minnesota MN 73 2 Colorado CO 69 3 Nebraska NE 69 4 Virginia VA 69 5 Wisconsin WI 68 6 New Hampshire NH 68 7 Iowa IA 67 8 Washington WA 67 9 Vermont VT 67 10 New Jersey NJ 67 11 Maryland MD 67 12 Florida FL 66 13 Utah UT 66 14 Pennsylvania PA 65 15 Maine ME 65 16 Michigan MI 65 17 Oregon OR 65 18 North Carolina NC 65 19 Ohio OH 65 20 Indiana IN 65 21 Missouri MO 65 22 Arizona AZ 64 23 Massachusetts MA 64 24 Kansas KS 64 25 Connecticut CT 64 26 Delaware DE 64 27 North Dakota ND 64 28 West Virginia WV 63 29 Texas TX 63 30 Idaho ID 63 31 Rhode Island RI 63 32 Illinois IL 62 33 Georgia GA 62 34 Wyoming WY 62 35 New York NY 61 36 Nevada NV 61 37 South Carolina SC 61 38 Montana MT 60 39 New Mexico NM 60 40 Alabama AL 60 41 Hawaii HI 60 42 District of Columbia DC 58 43 California CA 58 44 Alaska AK 58 45 Louisiana LA 58 46 Mississippi MS 58 47 Tennessee TN 58 48 Kentucky KY 57 49 South Dakota SD 56 50 Oklahoma OK 54 51 Arkansas AR 53

Meanwhile, Arkansas tested the worst, with 53 points. Its score is impacted by having the second-worst performance on WalletHub’s financial literacy survey.

And here’s each state’s rank within the three main benchmarks.

Rank State WalletLiteracy Rank
(50% Weight) Financial Planning
Rank (25% Weight) Financial Knowledge
Rank (25% Weight) 1 Minnesota 7 2 3 2 Colorado 8 1 20 3 Nebraska 9 25 6 4 Virginia 31 9 1 5 Wisconsin 14 6 14 6 New Hampshire 4 8 23 7 Iowa 10 27 15 8 Washington 12 3 30 9 Vermont 5 20 26 10 New Jersey 15 29 12 11 Maryland 13 11 22 12 Florida 37 16 9 13 Utah 47 10 2 14 Pennsylvania 26 23 17 15 Maine 1 28 40 16 Michigan 22 22 19 17 Oregon 46 21 4 18 North Carolina 35 37 8 19 Ohio 29 43 7 20 Indiana 33 40 10 21 Missouri 40 39 5 22 Arizona 18 33 25 23 Massachusetts 20 7 39 24 Kansas 11 35 35 25 Connecticut 50 5 11 26 Delaware 28 15 29 27 North Dakota 23 13 37 28 West Virginia 25 47 13 29 Texas 41 38 16 30 Idaho 39 19 28 31 Rhode Island 32 18 34 32 Illinois 27 32 33 33 Georgia 34 44 21 34 Wyoming 3 30 43 35 New York 24 17 42 36 Nevada 45 31 24 37 South Carolina 30 34 41 38 Montana 2 36 47 39 New Mexico 21 48 36 40 Alabama 44 42 27 41 Hawaii 19 12 48 42 District of Columbia 17 24 49 43 California 42 4 46 44 Alaska 6 14 51 45 Louisiana 43 49 32 46 Mississippi 36 51 31 47 Tennessee 49 41 38 48 Kentucky 51 45 18 49 South Dakota 16 26 50 50 Oklahoma 38 50 45 51 Arkansas 48 46 44

There’s some further insights to explain some noticeable geographic trends.

• Colorado and Nebraska also require personal finance education in high school.
• Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Arkansas have the lowest share of adults with emergency cash.
• A higher share of Southern state residents borrow from non-bank lenders, affecting their financial planning score.

The Overlooked Part of Financial Literacy: Managing Debt

While investing in the markets is all the rage—particularly with the rise of no-fee platforms—WalletHub’s benchmarks prioritize an often overlooked part of money management: debt.

America’s credit card debt collectively crossed $1 trillion in 2023, and it’s only been growing since.

On average, American households have about $5,000 in outstanding credit card balances, which can take anywhere between one to two years to pay off depending on monthly incomes.

Of course, managing expenditures to avoid or reduce debt has been particularly difficult in the multiple years of post-pandemic inflation.

Need more money management insights about the United States? Check out: America’s Average Bank Account Balance, by State for a quick overview.

Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com,

Renowned attorney Larry Klayman predicted on USAWatchdog.com that there would be full-blown, legal civil war happening in the court system.  He also predicted that violence from the “rabid left” would not only increase but explode.  

Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch and now Freedom Watch USA, says there are now more than 233 federal court cases trying to stop or delay President Trump and his Administration.  

Klayman is here to update us on what is going on with the struggle America is having with the Deep State trying desperately to hold on to power.  Let’s start with Joe Biden’s appearance last week on ABC’s “The View,” where he looked confused and incompetent.  Can all of Biden’s last-minute pardons of criminals and J6 members who destroyed evidence be enforced or are they null and void as President Trump has declared?  Klayman says,

“They are null and void and so is every other thing that was allegedly signed by him (Biden).  He couldn’t even remember what he signed. . . . This is more than a scandal.  It’s the worst scandal ever.  Let me tell you something, Biden has not been abused as an elderly person.  He abused the American people, and it’s much more than abuse.  Biden committed treason.”

What about suspending “habeas corpus” as President Trump is thinking about doing to more quickly deport millions of illegal aliens? 

Klayman says,

“He can do that in dire times, times of war.  We are, in effect, in a war.  We had drug traffickers, human traffickers, sex traffickers and terrorists running across our border in mass, over 10 million in the Biden Administration alone and many before that.  So, yes, it’s a war-time situation, and he (President Trump) can suspend it. . . .Just get them the heck out of here.  They are here illegally.  They have no right to be here.  The President should just ignore these edicts by these San Francisco judges and other judges . . . and do what he needs to do, and they can’t do anything.  

You know the judiciary has no ability to enforce any ruling.  It’s only the Executive Branch, President Trump’s branch that he sit’s over, can enforce the rule of law.  

This President has been sued thus far . . . in places like San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Portland and other places where they know they are going to get a Leftist judge.  Federal judges are supposed to be assigned randomly. 

It’s like Wheel of Fortune, but that really does not happen. . . . They actually steer these cases. . . . We need to prosecute these judges and set up the Department of Judicial and Legal Accountability and work with President Trump.  

I hope he will appoint me to head that with others that will come on board because we need some strong leadership right now because he’s sinking.  He (Trump) has been enjoined 70% to 80% of the time in every Executive Order that he has issued.  

This last one said Trump has no control over his departments anymore.  There was a temporary restraining order that says you can’t cut workforce; you can’t do anything.”

Why all the attacks on President Trump?  Klayman says

"They are attacking him because they hate him. . . . they are attacking him, and it’s all orchestrated.  Washington is one giant, excuse the French, circle jerk.  It’s a club.”

Larry Klayman is representing conservative reporter Laura Loomer against Bill Maher and HBO. 

They are being sued by Loomer for falsely claiming she slept with President Trump.  Klayman just deposed Maher and wants to release the video deposition.   Maher’s lawyers have so far blocked that.  Klayman says, “They are fighting tooth and nail to keep the video of Bill Maher secret so it can never be seen..."

"Look at the hypocrisy.  Laura Loomer gets defamed by Bill Maher, and the court has already denied a motion to dismiss . . . She gets smeared all over the world, defamed that she had sex with the President behind the back of Melania. . . . Loomer’s reputation gets harmed, and this harms her financially . . . You can smear a woman and . . . . If President Clinton can have his deposition released, who is Bill Maher that he should be protected?  Maher gave money to Kamela Harris as a political candidate.  That’s why Maher went after Loomer, because she was a way to get to Trump.”

In closing, Klayman has a warning:

“Pro Hamas demonstrators are busting up campuses threatening Jews and Christians, we see that.  We see Hakeem Jefferies the Minority Leader in the House, and Ilhan Omar, Rashita Tlaib, AOC and Bernie Sanders whipping up violence along with Jasmine Crockett, and they are calling for violence.”

Are we headed for a civil war?  

Klaman says, “I believe we are.”

There is more in the 56-minute interview.

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with renowned lawyer and government corruption fighter, Larry Klayman, founder of FreedomWatchUSA.org, as he rolls out a new organization to help Trump and the DOJ with his newly created Department of Judicial and Legal Accountability (DOLA) for 5.10.25.

To donate to FreedomWatchUSA.org so Larry Klayman can hire more attorneys to fight for the rights of all Americans being attacked by tyrannical dark forces on the Left, click here.

Authored by Andrew Korybko via substack,

Opinions are mixed about who came out on top in the latest Indo-Pak conflict, but one thing is for certain, and it’s that India’s new doctrine is the lasting takeaway. 

According to reports, India will regard all future acts of terrorism as acts of war by Pakistan, which will result in cross-border strikes. 

That might not deter Pakistan, whose military leadership relies on the unresolved Kashmir Conflict to legitimize its outsized influence, but it could still make them think twice about orchestrating future attacks.

Moreover, the Indus Waters Treaty remains suspended despite the fragile ceasefire/”understanding” between them, which collectively contributes to the new reality in South Asia. Reports also suggest that it was Pakistan, not India, which asked the US to diplomatically intervene in the latest conflict. About that, India denied that any mediation took place despite the US’ claims, but the US probably passed along messages from Pakistan to India on Islamabad’s behalf during talks between their officials.

CNN claimed that Vance called Modi after receiving “alarming intelligence”, which hints that Pakistan told the US that it might use of nuclear weapons in desperation, likely due to India bombing multiple bases across the country. If that’s indeed what happened, then it would imply that Pakistan believed that was losing, thus lending credence to perceptions that India got the best of it. After all, the aforesaid strikes weren’t intercepted, which shows that India achieved escalatory dominance over Pakistan.

Although some Pakistani drones and missiles hit targets inside of India, Russia’s S-400s were praised by national media for neutralizing many of the incoming attacks. Likewise, the jointly produced BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles were used in India’s successful attacks against Pakistani bases, thus proving that Russian military equipment is truly some of the best in the world. By contrast, Pakistan’s mostly Chinese equipment fell short of some observers’ lofty expectations, which reflects negatively on both.

Nevertheless, many in the Alt-Media Community – including some top “Non-Russian Pro-Russians” – insist that Pakistan defeated India, though there are reasons to suspect that they don’t actually believe this but are driven by ulterior motives in claiming otherwise. Most of these same figures are known for their support of Palestine and/or China, and given that India is close to Israel and at odds with China, supporting Pakistan is “ideologically consistent” with their views and precludes accusations of hypocrisy.

No matter how reliable their takes on Ukraine, Palestine, and whatever else might be, their views on the latest Indo-Pak conflict should therefore be taken with lots of salt. This is important to keep in mind since Putin and Modi “emphasised the need to uncompromisingly fight terrorism in all its forms” during their call last week, which isn’t reflected by these top “Non-Russian Pro-Russians” who present themselves as interpreters of Russian foreign policy. 

Their support of Pakistan over India contradicts Russian interests.

All told, while opinions are mixed about who came out on top in the latest Indo-Pak conflict, India arguably won seeing as how it punished Pakistan for the Pahalgam terrorist attack by bombing multiple bases, the Indus Waters Treaty remains suspended, and a new military doctrine has entered into effect. Pakistan achieved no comparable outcomes despite its supporters’ claims. Even though it lost, Pakistan might not have learned its lesson, so a re-eruption of hostilities at some future time can’t be ruled out.

Israeli media is reporting Sunday that Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander could be released by Hamas as early as Monday, after direct engagement between Hamas and Washington.

"After Hamas confirms that it will release Israeli hostage Edan Alexander, which it is reportedly doing as a gesture of goodwill to US President Donald Trump during his visit to the region this week, Israeli journalist Barak Ravid says US special envoy Steve Witkoff will arrive in Israel tomorrow to facilitate the process," The Times of Israel reports.

Witkoff will "finalize the details ahead of the release of Edan Alexander, according to a source familiar with the matter," Ravid wrote on X.

Donald Trump had previously been urged to use his influence to free Edan Alexander and the other hostages while meeting with victims' families, via The Telegraph

Trump will travel to the region, stopping in the Gulf countries of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates. Surprisingly, and apparently without official Israeli knowledge or input in behind-the-scenes US-Hamas diplomatic engagement on the issue, Hamas has formally confirmed the release is coming, but without saying exactly when.

Hamas announced Sunday that the decision to release Alexander comes after recent talks with US officials and "intensified efforts to achieve a ceasefire, open border crossings, and allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.”

Importantly, the Palestinian group which has warred against Israeli going back to the terror attack of Oct.7, 2023, has also said it is ready to resume intensified negotiations.

Hamas says it is ready to establish a mutually "agreed prisoner exchange, and enable Gaza to be administered by an independent professional authority."

President Trump could be readying a big announcement on the prospect of Gaza peace as he gets ready to depart for the region in Air Force One.

All of this, interestingly enough, comes amid unverified reports of a new rift between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump. While US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has denied the accuracy of the claims, the below widely circulated last week: 

President Trump has “cut contact” with Netanyahu, slamming the Israeli PM and his allies for acting “arrogant” and trying to push him around. Trump reportedly feels disrespected and manipulated by Netanyahu.

It’s been months since the last hostage exchange, with no new meaningful progress from this Administration to bring them all home.

Ahead of @POTUS Trump’s trip to the Middle East, I’m urging him to prioritize the release of 21-year-old Edan Alexander, the last surviving American… pic.twitter.com/JnGqqNtw0J

— Rep Josh Gottheimer (@RepJoshG) May 11, 2025

This new breakthrough where Hamas is willing to release the Israeli-American suggests that Israel may have been cut out of US-Palestinian talks.

If true, this would be a huge blow to Netanyahu. He's facing growing domestic pushback, and accusations that he is intentionally prolonging the war, at the expense of the safety of the remaining living hostages.

*  *  *

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Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

While coming in much stronger than expected, the latest employment data confirmed what we already suspected: the economy is slowing. The reason the employment data is so important is that without employment growth, the economy stalls. It takes, on average, about 200,000 jobs each month to keep up with population growth, which ultimately keeps the economy growing. That is because, as discussed in last week’s #BullBearReport, the consumer comprises about 70% of economic growth. To wit:

“There is currently no evidence that the economy is slipping into a recession. However, if you want to know if an economic decline will evolve into a recession, there is one key factor to consider: consumer spending. Consumer spending comprises nearly 70% of the GDP calculation, and everything else, from business investment to imports and exports, is a function of the consumer’s “demand.” In other words, if the consumer is slowing down or contracting spending, businesses will not “invest” in expansion projects, increasing employment, or buying more products for resale. That relationship is shown in the chart below, which compares PCE to employment and private investment.”

However, most crucially, consumers can not consume without producing something first. Production must come first to generate the income needed for that consumption. The cycle is displayed below.

Here is the most critical point. Not all jobs are equal.

“For a household to consume at an economically sustainable rate, such requires full-time employment. These jobs provide higher wages, benefits, and health insurance to support a family. Part-time jobs do not.”

While the media touts the ‘strong employment reports,’ such is mostly the recovery of jobs lost during the economic shutdown. However, the reality is that the full-time employment rate is falling sharply. Historically, when the rate of change in full-time employment dropped below zero, the economy entered a recession.

Notably, given the surge in immigration into the U.S. over the last few years, the all-important ratio of those employed full-time relative to the population has dropped sharply. As noted, given that full-time employment provides the resources for excess consumption, that ratio should increase for the economy to continue growing strongly. However, full-time employment has decreased since the turn of the century as automation, technology, and offshoring have risen. While President Biden recently touted strong employment growth in his SOTU address, full-time employment as a percentage of the working-age population failed to recover to pre-pandemic levels.

Notably, sharp downturns in full-time employment have been coincident with recessionary onsets.

No Recession, But Slower Growth Coming

The latest employment data put to rest recession concerns, at least for now. Employment growth remains strong enough to support economic growth and quell concerns that CEOs are withdrawing from the job creation process. However, compensation continues to decline as economic demand slows.

As is always the case, as the economy slows down, employers begin to change the most costly aspect of any business – employment. Cutting full-time jobs is the most efficient way to protect earnings and profitability. However, employers tend to hang on to employees as long as possible, as good employees are expensive to train and hard to replace. Eventually, if the demand falls too much, full-time employees are sacrificed to protect profits. As such, a reasonably predictable cycle continues until exhaustion is reached.

While we are seeing declines in full-time employment as the economy slows, we are now also seeing cuts in temporary help, which, as shown, is consistent with slowing growth. The reason is that cutting temporary employment is the first step by business owners to reduce employment costs while hanging on to full-time, and mostly crucial, employees. However, as noted above, once temporary workers are exhausted, the next step will ultimately be full-time employees.

The latest employment data did not provide much support for the “recession” crowd in 2025. As such, Wall Street analysts are quickly reversing their recession calls for this year, and are becoming more focused on slowing economic growth. However, that assessment can certainly change promptly if personal consumption expenditures take a turn for the worse. As noted above, nearly 70% of economic growth is derived from consumption; therefore, if consumption declines, employment falls, reducing consumption and further employment declines. When it accelerates, that cycle is the foundation for recession outcomes.

Indicators We Are Watching

As noted, while the employment data is weak, there are certainly indicators we are watching closely to confirm whether “job loss” is accelerating. First, we pay attention to the Conference Board’s measure of CEO confidence. Since the October 2022 lows, CEO confidence has continued to improve, and as of Q1, it rose to 60 from 51 in Q4 of 2024. That confidence increased full-time employment as the outlook for economic growth was improving heading into 2025. However, this is a lagging indicator, and the results of the Q1 survey were taken in February before the market decline and tariff announcements. Later this month, we will get an update to see if sentiment has changed, which could give us clues about future employment reports.

The second indicator we are watching is the NFIB small business confidence index. Specically,.it is their “plans” to increase employment versus what they do. Notably, employment by small businesses, roughly 50% of the total employment in the U.S., has remained stagnant since the pandemic. However, small business owners were very optimistic about hiring post-pandemic, expecting sharp improvements in sales. However, that optimism is fading quickly.

The reason is that, as discussed at the opening of this discussion, employment is a function of the demand for goods and services that businesses supply. As shown, expectations for sales surged following President Trump’s election, but given that actual sales have failed to materialize, that optimism is fading rather quickly. Expectations for business owners are one thing, but without actual increases in sales, which drive revenue, there is little reason to increase full-time employment, which is why it has remained stuck at lower levels since 2020.

Conclusion

Given the importance of consumption in the economy and that employment (production) must come first in the cycle, attention to employment data, particularly full-time employment, is crucial to determining economic risk. The risk of a recession remains very low; however, that can change if something causes consumption to contract quickly. Aside from an unexpected, exogenous impact, investors should expect economic growth to continue to slowly weaken to a longer-term trend slightly less than 2% annually. Unfortunately, while not recessionary, that growth rate will make it hard for corporate profitability to remain at record levels.

Eventually, a valuation adjustment in the financial markets will reflect the reality of a slow-growth economy. However, that isn’t today. However, the risk of a decade of low returns as markets normalize for a slow-growth economy is steadily increasing.

Just something to consider.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy appeared on NBC News' Meet the Press on Sunday morning, emphasizing the Trump administration's urgent push to modernize the nation's outdated airspace communications infrastructure.

Secretary Duffy cited recent outages at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). He described the situation as deeply concerning and stressed the need to replace the legacy system, which still relies on copper wiring, not fiber optics. 

"We're having these glitches in the system," he said, adding, "So we slow it down and keep people safe. That's what we do." 

Secretary Duffy said air traffic is being deliberately slowed and may last for "several weeks" at EWR following a series of radar outages, including the latest incident on Sunday morning. A separate outage on Friday had already prompted a temporary ground stop at the airport.

Bloomberg adds more color about today's ground stop at EWR:

On Sunday, an FAA equipment failure prompted a temporary ground stop at Newark. Controllers briefly slowed arriving and departing flights due to a "telecommunications issue" at a Philadelphia air traffic control center that was implicated in last week's 90-second outage, according to the FAA's website.

"I'm concerned about the whole airspace," Secretary Duffy said, pointing out much of the "equipment that we use, much of it we can't buy parts for new. We have to go on eBay and buy parts if one part goes down. You're dealing with really old equipment."

The FAA's outdated and deteriorating infrastructure was well known during the Biden-Harris regime, yet little was done to address the looming crisis. Instead, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg prioritized woke initiatives—such as addressing so-called 'racist' infrastructure—over urgently needed modernization efforts of the nation's air traffic systems. 

Whether this reflects mismanagement or intentional negligence remains up for debate—but after four years of woke warriors in the White House, the consequences are undeniable: the entire airspace network is in crisis.

An urgent fix is needed, and that's precisely what Secretary Duffy and his team are now racing to deliver.

Duffy on the air traffic control system: "The lights are blinking, the sirens are turning ... what you see in Newark is gonna happen in other places across the country."

Good luck, air travelers! pic.twitter.com/8woxmSYzvo

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 11, 2025

Nationwide Problem

Twice in two weeks, air traffic controllers at Newark Liberty International Airport lost all communication with aircraft - brief breakdowns that halted flights, triggered mass delays, and revived deep-seated concerns about the frailty of America’s air navigation infrastructure.

The air traffic control tower at Newark Liberty International Airport again lost radar access early Friday. A similar incident occurred on April 28. Photo by Bryan Smith/ZUMA Press Wire

No lives were lost, but for 90 seconds on April 28 - and again during a radar outage Friday - controllers at one of the nation’s busiest airports were effectively flying blind. The incidents rattled controllers, pushed already strained staffing to a breaking point, and highlighted what aviation leaders call a system overdue for a fundamental overhaul.

"There is a shortage of controllers nationwide, but not to the degree it’s occurring at Newark," said Jeff Guzzetti, a former FAA and NTSB investigator. "Newark has always been the worst in terms of air traffic staffing and modernizing its equipment."

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy cited "decades of underinvestment," and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the FAA "really a mess." The Transportation Department’s inspector general reported that 20 of the 26 most critical U.S. airports fall below the minimum staffing threshold for controllers, The Guardian reports. At Newark, some controllers who say they're traumatized by the latest breakdown, have taken leave—exacerbating already severe shortages.

The Trump administration responded Thursday with a sweeping modernization proposal. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy unveiled a plan to replace "antiquated telecommunications" with fiber, wireless, and satellite systems at more than 4,600 sites nationwide. "We are blessed to have a president who actually loves to build and knows how to build," Duffy said.

The plan was met with cautious optimism. Airlines and the air traffic controllers’ union endorsed the initiative, while the Modern Skies Coalition, a group of industry stakeholders, said it was encouraged by the department’s prioritization of safety. Yet some aviation experts questioned whether this plan will succeed where previous efforts have failed.

Robert W Mann Jr, an aviation industry analyst, said that for 40 years there have been FAA reauthorizations approved by Congress, but they haven’t fixed the problems. “Unless you do it right, it doesn’t make a difference what you spend,” he said. “You won’t have solved the root causes.”

Nonetheless, Mann said he remained confident about airline safety. He said: “There’s a primacy in this business. Whether you’re working at airlines or the FAA, safety is the first thing.”

Mann said that days when an airport faces severe understaffing of air traffic controllers or a crush of airplanes eager to take off as bad weather lifts, there will often be delays to ensure safety. “I’m not worried about safety,” Mann said, “but I might be worried that my flight will be four hours’ late.” -Guardian

Thursday’s announcement did not include a price tag, though the House Transportation Committee estimates a full system overhaul would cost at least $12.5 billion. Duffy acknowledged it could run higher.

Beyond the hardware, the human element is equally strained. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association says the U.S. needs more than 14,300 fully certified controllers. Today, the system has fewer than 10,800, with over 2,000 trainees still working toward full certification - a process that can take up to three years at high-volume airports like JFK and Newark.

Aging Infrastructure

The system’s shortfall dates back more than four decades. "The natural rhythm of the system broke down and we never fully recovered," said Georgetown labor historian Joseph McCartin, referencing President Ronald Reagan’s 1981 mass firing of striking controllers. "We’ve improved over time, but the FAA still has grave difficulty staffing facilities."

Guzzetti noted that the FAA still uses outdated software and facilities reliant on copper wire and even floppy disks. "It’s all coming to a head now," he said. A 2023 Government Accountability Office report warned that 51 of the FAA’s 138 ATC systems are unsustainable.

Meanwhile, a tragic January crash involving a commercial jet and army helicopter near Washington National Airport, which killed 67 people, remains under investigation. President Trump drew sharp criticism for blaming the accident on DEI policies before findings were released. On May 1, another army helicopter forced two commercial jets to abort landings at Reagan.

Despite this troubling backdrop, Mann expressed confidence in the industry’s safety culture. "I’m not worried about safety," he said, "but I might be worried that my flight will be four hours’ late."

Flight attendants’ union president Sara Nelson praised the dedication of frontline workers. "They should be commended for working in a system that’s crumbling," she said. "They’re like the nurses during Covid."

Duffy’s plan also includes incentives aimed at alleviating workforce shortages, including $5,000 bonuses for recruits who complete initial training. But industry officials stress that appropriations from Congress will be key.

"I hate to say we’re a canary in the coalmine," said Nelson, "but what happened in Newark is a sign of what will come in other airports if we don’t get the budget we need."