Originally Posted by Twin Wasp

One thing that hasn't been pointed out in the deregulation debate is the bankruptcy issue. Ok, you want to run an airline based on a penny a seat mile, fine. But when you're out of money, you're out of the game. Presently you file bankruptcy and continue, forcing the other airlines to compete against your unrealistic plan.

Originally Posted by Strychnine

Southwest is not what destroyed the industry, nor is the pretty CRJ. Business changes. New ideas emerge. New technology emerges, and with it a company's way of thinking and doing business must change to take advantage of it or be left behind by those companies that do.

Originally Posted by alvrb211

Destroyed the industry???

There's still plenty of choice for the consumer so the industry has not been destroyed!


The government would only re-regulate a given industry in the face of market failure. The market has not failed.

Originally Posted by DeadHead

Rush has been getting alot of media attention these days

Personally I don't blame "deceitful banks, mortgage brokers, and Americans living WELL outside their means" as much as I blame our Federal Government for allowing these factors to destabilize the American Economy.
I'm not a fan of expanding our Governments Regulating Authority because the problem still lies in adequate enforcement BY our Federal Government.

Having our Congress grill Corporate CEOs about irresponsible, unethical business methods is the very definition of Irony. Congress will easily ask Upper Level Managers, CEOs, and Investors to pay more taxes and bear the brunt of extra tax burdens, but that same Congress is still happy to vote themselves a pay raise every single year.

We need to FIX the system before we start changing it.
Until our Politicians are held accountable for their actions, we as a country will continuously be victims of corruption in our Government.
We reward incompetence, just look at Governor Blago...No prison, just an impeachment followed by a six-figure book deal.

Originally Posted by Twin Wasp

One thing that hasn't been pointed out in the deregulation debate is the bankruptcy issue. Ok, you want to run an airline based on a penny a seat mile, fine. But when you're out of money, you're out of the game. Presently you file bankruptcy and continue, forcing the other airlines to compete against your unrealistic plan.

Originally Posted by AU96

As I was driving to work listening to CNN HLN, they were running a story about how commercial truck driving jobs are now highly sought after in this economy because "training is only three weeks and starting salary is $30,000." As I was thinking to myself how pathetic it is that that's more than starting pay at a regional and on a par (I think) with CAL first year FO pay, one of the managers for hiring drivers in the story was talking about how they've seen college grads and former AIRLINE PILOTS applying for trucking jobs...who would of known that Goose's words in Top Gun would have been so prophetic... Now, I certainly don't trust the media to get their facts straight on anything, and I know nothing about the trucking industry, but if this story is accurate, I don't know what else better illustrates the decline in fair compensation for what we do, lives hanging in the balance every day, than this does.

Preach on brother Sully while your 15 minutes ticks down..

Originally Posted by Droog

I know that it's very fashionable to play the victim and blame the government/politicians for everything, but the reality is that we need to look into the mirror. These politicians are products of American institutions (schools, churches, etc.) and are essentially us. They didn't just come to us through some wormhole from an alternate universe. The truth of the matter is that most Americans would rather hang out at the mall spending tons of money on clothes smeared with some designer-label, corporate logo feces on it than getting involved. The bottom line is that we get what we deserve.

Originally Posted by KC10 FATboy

No, the story is probably low balling those compensation figures. Some of the big truck companies have some very good bennies.

You guys can laugh and say what you want about truck drivers. My dad was a driver and did quite well. I currently have two friends of the family who are making $1xx,xxx a year and they are gone two weeks and home for one.

Additionally, in the spirit of this thread, ever since the Federal Government sought more "regulation" for the truck industry by mandating required rest cycles and duty durations (which by the way are stricter than ours!), drivers have been leaving the industry because there's no big money to be made like before. Making money like my the friends I talked to above is falling to the wayside unless you are in some type of specialty. The dirty little secret was that truck drivers made damn good money.

-Fatty