231–240 of 342 posts
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The airlines were buoyed by PPP loans.
Airlines did not qualify for PPP loans. They did receive substantial direct support from the federal government however. PPP "loans" were reserved for businesses with less than five hundred employees that weren't worth very much (relatively speaking) either.
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Really wish Zeldin wasn't an election denier. That's what made me vote for governor sellout.
That’s such a weird thing to not vote for someone for. I mean, I get it - it’s a principled stance and all. But you should never vote on principal. You should vote to win so that the real issues you care about are reified. Principal could make you feel good but you still lost. Winning is the only thing that matters.
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The free market at work. "Do you want me to provide plain bad service or bad service that also puts the customers' lives at risk? The choice is yours, dear regulator!" But more seriously, I think the sibling posts are right here: A plane crash is more than a monetary risk: In the worst case, managers of the airline could be criminally liable for lost lives.
> The free market at work. Do you have any clue how dangerous Soviet passenger aircraft and their flights were, compared to their Western counterparts?
There are countless examples of this, but the most transparent I've come across is Chernobyl.
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The free market at work also generated the airlines and travel industry that so many enjoy. We created the FAA and other entities to regulate the market participants to make sure we get the outcome we desire while balancing generating economic activity. If something isn’t working right, it’s the responsibility of regulators to fix the problem, or ultimately the people to elect representatives who will. This casual cy…
> The free market at work also generated the airlines and travel industry that so many enjoy. Well, that and all the government spending on aviation in WWII.
This is really sad. I don't follow politics, but I didn't think this level of blatant corruption really existed in the US.
Is this really corruption? I mean, it’s just how our politics works. It’s so blatant because it is how it works.
I believe the analysis. Here in Canada, the government passed a law not that long ago (during the pandemic) to enshrine rights of passengers for delayed and cancelled flights, which included right to specific amounts of monetary compensation in those scenarios. The law, however, had an exception, where no compensation is due if the flight is delayed or cancelled due to a safety issue. Lo and behold, the airlines have…
> Lo and behold, the airlines have started classifying almost every delay and cancellation as a safety issue Then the regulators should be asking why there are so many safety issues? Seems like by the airlines' own admission, this is a perfect ground for a full investigation and penalties in case the issues are found to be misclassified under the category of safety.
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> Lo and behold, the airlines have started classifying almost every delay and cancellation as a safety issue Then the regulators should be asking why there are so many safety issues? Seems like by the airlines' own admission, this is a perfect ground for a full investigation and penalties in case the issues are found to be misclassified under the category of safety.
They only care about safety issues during flight. Flights that dont happen are not a "flight safety" issue. The safest trip is always the one that doesnt try to leave the ground.
Every such event reminds me of that celebrated fraud of an academic who argued that corporations exist to maximize profit within the applicable legal framework and that it is how things should be. The fact that corporate entities actively shape the legal framework to suit narrow interests that frequently undermine collective welfware somehow escaped him. When intellectual dishonesty and amoral behavior reach such sys…
Go away.
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I'm not sure I understand what the alternative is - should you pretend that corporations are not ruthless profit maximizers, and allow them to have undue sway over our legislative system all the same? It seems like the root of the problem is that we've let the institutions which are supposed to hold our politicians to account when they exhibit blatant corruption fall into disrepair.
Do not allow corporations to lobby and influence the law. Do no allow politicians to profit from changes to the law (ie playing the stock markets) Companies are not people and do not have rights.