All Major airline pilots need to read and understand this article:
The Great American Bubble Machine | Rolling Stone Politics
While this will effect everyone, as the marketers and underwriters of nearly all commercial flying, the major carriers are the most exposed.
For those who lack the time, or the inclination, to read the article the conclusion is this:
(1) Oil prices are being manipulated by speculators. The largest of these is Goldman and they can make the call on when oil goes up (which attracts investors) and when it goes splat (wiping investors out with losses).
Goldman is effectively putting a ribbon on a watermelon and tossing it out the window. The investors pile on inflating the price. The insiders get out just before it goes splat.
Our employers are not the "insiders." As an outsider the best we can do is hedge. Of course Goldman makes money administering the hedges too.
Oils prices are killing our employers. The revenues we need to invest in modern technology jets always vanishes among the inflated prices and hedging losses. We're just riding a roller coaster that always ends at a point lower than where it started from.
(2) Carbon Trading Schemes - Bankrolled on both sides by Goldman, politicians are pushing a cap and trade pollution trading scheme. Goldman wants to be in the middle of this trade. In effect not only playing the "Enron" role, but having the power of the government to levy a tax on the schleps like us that create carbon emissions.
The profit potential for manipulating both the input and outputs of our industry are not only astonishing for Goldman (and their peers) but will kill demand for our product as we are forced to price accordingly, then kill our employers.
Answers: I don't know that there are any. Politicians from both sides are in. The ability to educate the electorate is questionable. In fact, it would not surprise me if many pilots don't make it through this article despite its importance to our future.