So, United and Continental are now one company, as are Delta and Northwest. It is a reality of 2010 America that there are fewer and fewer companies for consumers to choose from. Not exactly a capitalist wonderland of choice, but perhaps the logical consequence of unregulated capitalism where survival of the fittest destroys all competition. Theoretically, the best company got the business it earned and thrived where competitors failed, right?
I would like to know what kind of position that leaves American taxpayers in as a result. It seems to me that in an industry that has been prone to catastrophic failure due to incompetent management, bankruptcy, destruction of retirement plans for its employees, and overall crappy service, we now have very few companies to choose from that are essentially "Too Big to Fail", in the parlance of the day. What happens when the new United or Delta manages themselves into the toilet, AGAIN? Does the government allow them to catastrophically fail as did Lehman Bros., indefinitely crippling air travel in the U.S. and elsewhere? Or does the American taxpayer once again get stuck with the bill for bailing out another huge multinational corporation that fucked up on its own?
It just seems to me that we are allowing this to happen again and again by not enforcing anti-trust laws and not disapproving mergers that leave consumers with no choice and taxpayers holding the bag.
Oh, and if you read the UK Guardian portion of the title link, you can also worry along with shareholders about whether or not United's tulip logo will be lost to history. Oh yeah, and if you have time to care, maybe more job losses. You know, whatever.
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