I'm sure theres a forum post for the 100,000 wall-street and silicon valley guys saying pretty much the same thing.

Why are pilots expendable? Thats an easy answer. 30 million dollar airplane + 60K pilot+20K FO+30K flight attendant+ 5 million worth of fuel annually+ 250 MILLION worth of executive pay and bonuses, I mean come on...SOMETHING's gotta go, right? God forbid loyal and hardworking executives should have to be held the slightest bit accountable for thier malfeseance and incompetence. I mean they should be the LAST people to go! They have to stick around and clean up the mess they made. Considering the fact that they make in one year what the rest of us will ever hope to scrape together in our lifetimes, we have to cut these guys some pretty serious slack. We wouldn't want them working overtime right? On second thought let's have them working as little as possible, it will probably help the company.

Pilots are expendable because they have bills to pay, food to buy, and rent to make and they can barely afford to picket. It would be nice to have a massive workforce strike, it would really send a strong message. However, at the end of the day, pilots are paid so little that they can't afford to exhibit solidarity.

However, I don't think that the problem runs with just the airlines. We are facing a huge cultural problem in the U.S. and across the globe.

Case in point, a crack dealer gets busted, goes to Rikers Island for the night, gets a trial a few days later and get sent up the river in a speedy hearing and tries to survive his time in federal or state prison for 15-20 years. On the other hand, Madoff cons THOUSANDS of people, a several small countries GDP's worth of dollars gone, retirements evaporated, endowments halved, charitable organizations insolvent, and at least one tragic suicide. Madoff gets house arrest in his 7 million dollar east side apartment and a pretty lax curfew, a trial date is apparently not in sight, and he reportedly is pleasing insanity. HE'S TRYING TO GET OFF SCOT-FREE!?! What is the worst he can expect after his 13 month trial? 5-10 in a minimum security prison? Hardly a punishment fitting the crime considering the damage it caused.

So who was hurt the most in this case? The dozen crack addicts that frequented the dealer, or the thousands of people and organizations that gave thier money to a person that they had every reason to trust?

Let's face it guys, until we scream bloody murder and take a stand together, not simply against the executives of one company or another, but against the culture and society that allows this to happen, we will always be expendable from the janitor to the line pilot. We will be deemed less valuable because we add to society, while consuming fewer of its resources, while the executives are deemed more valuable because they add little, yet consume far more then they deserve. A little bass ackwards if you ask me.