You have no idea what socialism is, trust me. The USA will never become a Socialist country, all this talk about OBAMA being a socialist makes "US" living abroad laugh.

Not so sure the passengers like it so much. Chances are they will be late, cancelled, overbooked, rebooked or miss their connections, not to mention stripsearched, wanded, xrayed and yelled at. Or did I mention "ignored" if they complain about the whole mess?

Some re-regulation would/should restore some reliability, stability and order in our airline system. Government run - NO, Regulated - YES.

Regulation would bring stability and order back to our profession. For the top 50%. The rest of us will be out of a job. Regulation means less competition which means fewer jobs. Research how many airline jobs there were in 1978 and how many there were in 2008.

Well who is willing to give up their job so that the Airline Industry can resize itself to a "Regulated Supply-And-Demand Industry" from a "Free Market Supply-And-Demand Industry"?

I for one am not, and if thinking that Re-Regulating our industry will help fix it by ensuring better job/industry-wide security there's one little caveat to that.

We will be trading MANY Unsecure Airline Jobs for a FEW Secure Airline Jobs.

More Regulation = Less Competition + Federal Government Intervention = Less Pilot Jobs = More Pilots Complaining on APC.

I don't think you could have Regulation without Government Intervention.

If there is one thing we have learned about our federal government during this economic crisis, it's that the system of Regulation is broke beyond repair.
I'm not talking about the Regulation itself, but rather the actual Enforcement and Adequate Oversight that should be occurring.

I can see what your getting at by "Some Regulation", but unfortunately once the lobbyists and third/fourth/fifth party interests start getting involved exploitation of the taxpayer's money is a few steps away.

I love this country, but I hate what this government has become.

Are you ready to give up your career for regulation and "stability?"

I might go for it if there's a national seniority list based on the original ATP issue date. Mine's 08/93. ;) Yeah, right, that will never happen.

Regulation: Who's going to decide who survives? On what basis? Can you see the lawsuits coming trying to decide this?

What about fares? Is the government going to keep them low enough to keep people flying? What if that fare basis is below cost? Will Uncle Barry pay the company the difference?

Unions. Will strikes be legal? I doubt it. They aren't for controllers.

In a free, open and fair market, the government can never compete with private enterprise. This includes police, fire, education etc. We just collectively chose not to handle it that way in most cases for peace of mind.

Dead on post.

I'll tell you who will survive, it will be the airline that donates the most amount of money to the controlling political party that is elected into power at the time.
When we have governors auctioning off Senate Seats, what makes you think there won't be a price tag for controlling stake in this industry.

Instead of the airlines giving back pay concessions and work benifits, that money will be used to gain political support and favor. We have enough detriments in this industry without this.

Concur. The biggest gov operation of all: the military. None of the Free Market Makes Everything Perfect crowd ever mentions the 500 pound gorilla.

Military, Fire Department, Police Departments, and Hospitals are more or less a social need. One of the primary goals of this Country is to keep it's borders secure and it's citizens safe. In times of emergencies, the help and support provided should be symmetrical in every corner of this country.

I don't agree with you, not on the basis of whether regulation is a good or bad thing, that is. I think there is an inherit need for regulation, in general, in this country, however the system NEEDS to work. My disagreement with you is not in terms of Regulation, as much as it is with Enforcement.

Point in case, the Financial Markets did not collapse as a result of too much, or too little regulation. The markets collapsed because out Federal Government was not doing their job and never ENFORCED the Regulating Mechanism that had been in place over the past 30-50 years.

Anyway you look at it, our federal governments is not fiscally responsible, I'm not going to get into whether it was the Democrats or Republicans because in the end it won't solve our problems as a nation. Our government has inflated the dollar to it's limit, we have an gigantic deficit, and corruption inundating all levels of our government. It's a sad day when the people of a nation can't trust their government, and I for one have lost my faith and trust in our current government.

Point is, better Enforcement of our Regulation before we can even consider Expanding More Regulation.

Pilots as goverment employees? Bad Plan! The government destroys everything it touches. The taxpayers should not have to subsidize poorly run companies that can't figure out if you don't make money you should go out of business. Although those nice blue TSA smurf uniforms would be great, do we get shiny badges that mean nothing also?:rolleyes: