I have a bridge to sell between Manhattan and Brooklyn for
@typhoonpilot ,
@Skåning , and
@Cherokee_Cruiser to buy.
Here is the problem, it is you who have been "sold the bridge" and you have yet to figure it out.
What do I mean? Very likely you grew up in a predominantly white suburban middle class neighborhood in the USA. In that neighborhood and in the majority of similar neighborhoods in North America you learned that being "fair" and "working hard" would help you to be successful in life. Most of the people you and your parents dealt with were honest and even helpful. You learned that honestly, integrity, and loyalty were good character traits that would benefit you in life.
You watched the news and saw executives of big U.S. corporations get into legal trouble for using bribery to secure a contract in a foreign country. You saw justice in the courts of the United States.
That actually worked in North America for most of the 50s, 60s, 70s, and even a little into the 80s. Why? Because the world was not anywhere near the global marketplace it is today. Most companies dealt domestically or with partners in Western Europe, where similar values were still the norm. They could compete in this environment.
The world has changed dramatically in the last 20-30 years. It is now a very global marketplace. Huge economies have emerged in India, China, Brazil, Eastern Europe, Africa. South America, and the rest of Asia. The majority of the people in those countries do not subscribe to the same values that you do. They cheat, lie, steal, bribe, and even kill to get to the top or to make a dollar. Those values go to their large companies and their governments as well.
So how do you compete against that? Hold the high ground with your honestly, integrity, and quest for fairness? I wish,.......................really I do. But, I've been out in that world and I've seen how it works. Neither you, me, the U.S. government, ALPA, or anyone else is going to change the way the world works in the short term.
If U.S. companies want to be successful in this new global marketplace they have to let go of these ideals of competition and how business worked in the past. They have to adapt to the reality of who they are competing with and how those people/companies think. They have to find innovative solutions to combat their foreign competitors.
You wrote this:
"A portion of Emirates' fleet is purchased with subsidies from Export Credit agencies (like the U.S. Export-Import Bank), reducing the cost of the aircraft to well below market value. U.S. airlines aren't eligible for this kind of financing, so these taxpayer-backed subsidies translate to a large market advantage over us."
There is so much wrong in those two sentences and it just drives home my point. As well a lot of exaggeration and mis-direction in those two sentences. A portion of Emirates fleet is actually around 10% of the fleet. Hardly enough to make a substantial competitive difference. You say this is tax-payer backed subsidies. The Ex-Im bank makes a profit, how is that a subsidy?
You say these "subsidies" reduce the cost of the aircraft to well below market value. How do you know this for a fact. When Delta, American, or UAL make a 100 aircraft order do they get discounts? When they buy Airbus aircraft do they get help from Airbus financing them? Indeed, is the list price of an Airbus aircraft not lower because of European subsidies in the first place?
Would you rather see Boeing go out of business entirely or would you like them to be able to fight back a little in getting aircraft orders from foreign airlines? When Boeing aircraft are sold does that not add to the U.S. economy? Does that not add jobs, many high paying union jobs? Do those happily employed Americans not travel on U.S. airlines for vacation and business? Does that not help U.S. carriers increase their revenue.
To think that Airbus is not out there actively bribing customers, and that the European governments that subsidize them are not fully aware and encouraging of those actions is naïve at best. Add in Embraer, Bombardier, Mitsubishi, Comac, Sukhoi, and ATR and it's probably even worse. Boeing only has the quality of their airplanes and the help they can get a customer in financing those airplanes as a weapon to level the playing field a little ( I used one of your favorite phrases
). You would handicap them to the detriment of their U.S. employees, suppliers, and the U.S. economy? They are fighting the unfair world legally and with the help of the U.S. government and you would take that away from them.
Typhoonpilot
