Originally Posted by
w0mbat
When the AMA lobbies the government to mandate that people must join their organization in order to fly, you know that they are in self preservation mode. The main goal of the AMA at this point is to keep money flowing in order to keep up with payroll and bankroll their facility. Expanding the model airplane hobby is the farthest thing from their mind.
Spot on. Here's two trends that tell the whole story. AMA gets 90%+ of its revenue from membership. The second chart, charter club fees, I see as a leading indicator of "true believer" support .. since those are the folks paying the club fees.
Data for both charts comes from AMA's IRS990 tax filings and are inflation adjusted using the USG inflation adjustment calculator.
