A look back to 1980-1983: Interest rates were 16%, unemployment was 9%, the entire industry was awash in furloughs. Lorenzo had busted the unions at CAL, the controllers were on strike and the DC-10 fleet had been grounded following the AAL accident in ORD. Oh yeah, fuel had tripled in price. Sound familiar? It all sounds like a long time ago, but history has a nasty habit of repeating itself.

What followed 1983 was an unprecedented growth in the airline industry followed by pay rates that toped 200K by the 90's for narrow body captains. All the while were predictions from Wall Street and management that " if we give you a raise, we will go out of business and furlough the entire world. 9/11 was unrepresented, with traffic falling 20% or more. Another recession is inevitable, it doesn't mean the end of all time. For all we know, the industry could continue earning profits and hiring pilots.