If
you had to travel this past holiday season,
you probably are still
reeling from the experience. Southwest
Airlines alone canceled nearly
17,000 domestic flights. Airports were full
of passenger lines,
crying babies, angry adults and overwhelmed
airline personnel. It was
nobody’s “happy place.” While airlines
pointed the finger at
extreme weather conditions, a look at where
the profits go reveals a
more transparent situation. In short, the
heavy hand of capitalism
was at work.
The
U.S.
airline industry has taken a page out of the
Too
Big to Fail
book used by
corporations like Goldman Sachs and General
Motors. After the banking
crisis of 2008 and subsequent government
bailouts, corporations like
GS enjoyed megaprofits. They rewarded their
shareholders with record
bonuses. Taxpayers got the bill.
The
justification from these bloodsuckers is
that they must save jobs,
and that has been a winning message for
decades. So, labor unions and
consumers tighten their collective belts to
make concessions to
benefit the company. In the case of the
airlines, the return
appreciation has been keeping employee wages
flat. Passengers are
crowded into seats adjusted for maximum
capacity with a 4-ounce bag
of nuts to pacify them. We are
nickel-and-dimed with extra charges
that used be included in the ticket price,
like baggage.
Somewhere
along
the line, Southwest Airlines was dubbed the
working people’s
airlines - as if it were markedly different
from the rest. Its
projected loss due to the holiday
cancellations and mandatory
reimbursements to passengers will climb to
about three quarters of a
billion dollars. About $400 million of that
is the revenue loss from
cancellations. The remaining is
reimbursements of actual passenger
losses and incentives to smooth consumers’
ruffled feathers.
During
the pandemic, the industry received over $50
billion to avoid
bankruptcy because people were staying at
home. The airlines got
multiple payouts from the same public trough
as we did - the American
Rescue Plan Act. Most of us were so focused
on the crumbs we would
receive from ARPA, we didn’t see what the
phat cats were getting
out of the deal.
The
losses of the airlines were temporary. They
recovered, and their
stocks soared nearly 200 percent. Executives
received stocks and
bonuses to add to their need-to-be criminal
compensation packages.
For example, Delta’s CEO had a total
compensation package of $12.4
million in 2021.
The
public now knows more about the failure of
Southwest (and probably
other airlines) to address its outdated
infrastructure. I heard a rep
from the pilots’ association on NPR expose
the systems failure as a
chronic problem that has been known for
years. This is clearly going
to be a case of begging for what you need,
and expect the public
coffers to be raided to update the system.
Taxpayers will be told,
jobs must be saved and safety must be a
priority.
We
have yet to test it, but I’m wondering what
would happen if we say
no! to the next request for a bailout. Over
the last twenty years,
we’ve clearly seen who the beneficiaries
are. Salaries and profits
are a matter of public record, as are
workers’ wages. Would the
economy totally collapse or would we force
these companies and their
greedy investors to figure it out - and do
so without our money. It’s
risky on our part. But keep in mind, these
folks have no problem with
risking our jobs, our safety and our future.
I say it’s time to
shift the risks.
