UAL Prepares for Bankruptcy. United Airlines moved to firm up financing in advance of a bankruptcy filing, even as it continued talks with its unions and suppliers. By Edward Wong. [New York Times: Business]
A great victory for capitalism happened today when the Air Transportation Stabilization Board denied a loan guarantee for United Airlines. Why the US Government is financing the airline industry (or, for that matter, any industry) is beyond me. Why are tax dollars used to support industries that can't survive on their own? Can the government do a better job of providing financing to companies than the vaunted global investment community? I think not. How arrogant to think otherwise.
When United goes bankrupt, it will be a victory for every business in the world who manages on their own, without appropriating taxpayer's resources through lobbying efforts. It will be a reminder that no company is too big to fail, and that companies whose employees and management are too stupid to run a profitable business should be put out of their misery as soon as possible, to allow a reallocation of resources to more profitable endeavors.
A tip o' the hat to Joseph Schumpeter:
This process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism. It is what capitalism consists in and what every capitalist concern has got to live in. . . .
12:23:37 AM 
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