Tuesday, June 08, 2004
 
Something Special in the Air

Aaron, of Free Will Blog, casts a critical eye and two rhetorical fists of iron upon the airline industry:
    It's something of an illusion to suggest 9/11 caused their problems. That's only a popular excuse for today: Despite air travel growing an average of 7% a year throughout the 90's, the airlines still struggled, and are still struggling today to deal with passenger drops from the Gulf War. In 1991. They weren't profitable in 2000, either.

    There are only two possibilities here: They are either incompetent, or the demand for the massive infrastructure they're trying to float simply isn't there. In either case, they suck at doing business, as demonstrated by last year's debacle, asking workers to take a 15% paycut to avoid bankruptcy, while simultaneously increasing their own bonuses to run away with more tax money in their pockets.
We're sucky crony capitalists, Aaron. We understand laissez-faire, where one company's (or industry's) weakness, failure, or strength means more opportunity for others.


 
To say Noggle, one first must be able to say the "Nah."