If you've ever spent much time in India or China, you'll understand right away why a global "Free Market" is only going to drag down the standard of living we Americans have been enjoying for the past 200 years. Look at all the manufacturing jobs we have lost already. Try to find any clothing at Walmart that says Made in America on it...

When we have to compete for jobs with Billions of Indians and Chinese, with out few hundred Million, well, the math just don't work in our favor.

Read "The World is Flat".

 

This quote sums it up....
This is what "ultra conservatives" and "ultra liberals" fight over. They are two sides of the same coin.

It is not about being "liberal" or "conservative." IF that is your outlook, then you don't understand LIBERTY. Instead of liberal or conservative, try Totalitarianism and Liberty on your scale.

If you don't, then it is all about using government to make sure "I get mine."

I'd have to check out my copy of "The World is Flat" but I am pretty sure it was written by a Friedman... who is mostly a Free-Market thinker from the Chicago school... until it comes to really important things like, say, a "National Airline Policy."

But at what level does an industry become so important that it has to be regulated by the Feds? What is the GDP? Or another way to ask it, at what level does an industry become so important that it is nationalized? And when something is nationalized, it means YOU no longer maintain control over it. So much for property rights....

Sure, regulation worked better for US (the airline pilot). That is by the very definition the idea of crony-capitalism... using laws to make money you would not otherwise be able to make without the government help.

Free Market Capitalism and Crony Capitalism are two very different things.

Given the way the game is played in the US these days, we may very well be served better by adopting Crandall's ideas (or re-regulating). And you and I may see our paycheck rise (I would love to make 400,000 working 10 days a month).

But to try and be consistent in my beliefs it would be hypocritical of me to say I love liberty then vote/push/buy laws that line my pockets on the backs of tax-payers.

Of course, I see the frustration in our industry and realize that it is endemic of the SYSTEM that is the US in the 21st century. So I certainly understand the desire to "make a law" to fix our ills... it is the way the game is played these days. Which is why every airline and ALPA have a lobbying arm....

 

Sorry you boys didn't get the memo.

If you think worlwide trade is run on anything approaching a level playing field you have not been watching.

If you think any government is going to solve your problems, you aren't very handy with history.

The best we can ever hope for is fair competition in a fair environment with as many choices as possible. The tiresome left/right tirade is nothing but a sad joke. Don't fall for it.

 

I think jungle may be on the right track.

 

I love those who think "re-regulation" simply means going back to 1970s pay scales.

You need to look no further than crap like the "Passenger Bill of Rights" to realize that the industry is all ready heavily regulated.

Remember, also, that once the Gov't gets more involved, they'll mostly likely regulate a whole bunch of stuff that you don't want them to touch, too -- like your salary!

 

Timbo;
I'm right with you on your point here. The problem is, most Americans don't realize how $krewd they already are. The "free market" has already begun to dismantle the American dream.

America is crumbling, but the non-world traveller doesn't realize it because he's the frog in the pot of water heating to the boiling point. Ignorance is bliss, but not blissful.

 

Scambo,

Agreed. I think that is why it is so important to differentiate between the true free market and the American "free market" which is crony-capitialism. We lay the blame at the wrong feet... and then we get the 99%ers.

I understand their anger... but it is misplaced. We have a tendency to do that in the airline industry as well.

 

The part that cracks me up is when the Politicians say, "Elect ME, I'm going to create JOBS!"

Yeah, sure you are! But the jobs will be in India and China, right where your 42,000 lobbiests told you, and paid you, to send them...

Who writes our labor laws and "Free Trade" agreements? The Lobbiest. Who pays them?

Like Deep Throat said a long time ago, "Follw the Money".

 

Timbo,

Great point. Thus the NEED to keep politicians away from the free market. More regulation=more politicians.

The ones that win are the ones with big lobbying arms. Which means the little people lose.

 

Election campaigns are very expensive, so where do the Politicians get all that money?

Not from you and me, from the Lobbiests.

So, when it comes time for Re-Election...who do you think they are 'working' for?

Not us.

Take a look at Lou Dobbs book, "Independence Day", it's about our politicians, and the 42,000 registered lobbiest that fund them.