Airlines Now Want YOU to Lobby for Them
Posted on July 10, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized |
What a crock of shit. Apparently the 12 CEOs of U.S. airlines who are signatories of this open letter to the public really believe that every time a futures contract is traded it goes up in value… unlike their stocks. After billions of taxpayer dollars bailed these airlines out following 9/11, they have done nothing to restructure and reinvent U.S. aviation, instead relying on the same old excuses about why they can’t compete. Now it’s oil and sensing an opening in favorable public sentiment, the airlines are now playing victim and blaming crude oil speculators for their latest round of problems.
A barrel of oil may trade 20-plus times before it is delivered and used; the price goes up with each trade and consumers pick up the final tab. Some market experts estimate that current prices reflect as much as $30 to $60 per barrel in unnecessary speculative costs. [From Recession Watch: Oil! Airlines Issue Open Letter Asking You To Help Them Lobby Congress]
It’s dishonest and duplicitous to the highest degree when airlines ask the public to regulate commodity prices and then immediately suggest they they themselves should have minimal regulation. If I lobby Congress for anything it is going to be limits on $15 surcharges, late and cancelled flights, redemption fees for frequent flier award tickets, and generally pissed off employees.
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My name is Jeff Nolan and I write Venture Chronicles. These are my thoughts on technology, innovation, management, public policy and pretty much anything else that I find interesting.
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