Glenn Tilton, CEO of UAL, has been clear from 2002 when he started at United. He wants cross border mergers.

Now that we have Democrats in full control of the federal government, we will see if they will continue to subsidize failing companies like they have with the banks and GM.

Questions:

If United becomes too weak to survive on its own, or American, for that matter will the federal government step in?

Who is left in the domestic market to buy them?

Will the federal government force some domestic mergers along with some subsidies.

Is the US Treasury too broke to subsidize failure any longer?

Will the federal government be forced to relax foreign ownership rules to keep the airline industry competitive?

Please note this is not the start of a political debate. It is a serious non-partisan discussion of macro economic and policy issues facing the industry.