Guys, there's nothing new here… Doug always talks like this. He gives us his little crew news pow wow's every month at the training centers and there's always lots of Umm, Uhh's.. Monologues full of careful chosen words that just gets him to the next question and to a sip of his diet Dr. Pepper. Thats why many of us stopped attending them… we never get our Q's answered..

Here's a list of his favorite words…

"Fair enough"
"At any rate"
"Thank you, Captain"
"You're, their constituents"
"You guys are tired of hearing it as much as I'm tired of saying it"

For starters, trade deficit =/ budget deficit.

My point was that increasing wages in the US won't directly come back to help the US economy. It will in some areas, but not like it did when we were a net exporter making everything from mining the iron ore to machining the nuts and bolts "in house".

Also you have no idea how badly pilots are paid outside of the US. Yes, some areas are hiring highly experienced pilots for seemingly high wages, but most are paid relatively low amounts in comparison to us when looking at the major carriers. Example, Copa hiring 737 CA's base pay is under $50k/yr.

This guys is as wrong as two left feet. Shame on DP.

If I was a business man i would do the same thing as him. Himself and shareholders are more important than pilots.

Looking at COPA AIRLINES pilot jobs, payscales and entry requirements.
you'll notice that a captain at Copa starts out much higher than $50K USD per year, and then when comparing cost of living adjustments in Panama, it's anywhere from 30-40% lower cost of living in Panama vs the USA, which makes their overall compensation worth in excess of $135,000. Yes pilots may be payed less there, but you have to look at the whole picture. Similar comparison to any pilot who lives in the the Northeast vs another pilot who lives in the southeast or Texas. You're purchasing power is drastically different. It's all about where you live....

here's another chart: http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living...2=Dallas%2C+TX

Thank you, some one gets it I have been saying this for years. This is the exact reason the US economy will never recover.

No, that isn't the reason. You could flood the labor market with money, a large percentage would leave the country and never come back. Christmas is now essentially a Chinese stimulus.

OK...exactly. They are paid well under what our guys make. You base them in their country and pay them well for living there but they fly in the US...

The updated PDF I saw showed a base of $42k that was directly from a COPA recruiter. There are bonuses and such that you might get but the guarantee was $42k IIRC.

Look at Emirates, roughly $130k for a 777 CA, what's the pay in the US? Around double that.

You're both making fair points, and there is truth to both viewpoints. The US now has a SERVICE based economy due to the loss of manufacturing to overseas entities. The airline industry IS a service based industry so you can't really compare it to an import/export based economy. US GDP has been sliding downward from BOTH the net loss of well paying jobs AND the loss of export output/manufacturing. Read the book, "The Wal-Mart Effect". Basically, by corporations attempting to get a competitive edge and making their products cheaper for US consumers through outsourcing they have killed the very jobs and consumer spending power that makes them have a sustainable business model. Airline management has been following this trend for over a decade, however it's obvious to me that it's unsustainable and needs some (or lots of) "adjustment".

Before deregulation, you paid a significant amount for an airline ticket, or you took the bus. Watch those old movies from the 70's. You see families, businessmen, and soldiers riding the bus. The RJ became the bus. If the "shortage" of qualified pilots happens, more people will have to ride the bus. Some of these routes are ridiculous anyways. DEN-COS in an RJ, really? You can drive that in an hour and a half. SFO-SAC, 1.5 hours too. There's a lot of room to cut flights.