From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: The end of the Reagan Era
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 04:22:29 GMT

In <BxGL1p.HCr@NeoSoft.com> hari@NeoSoft.com (Doug Andersen) writes:

>In article <1992Nov6.140322.27206@mksol.dseg.ti.com>, mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
>> Uh, last I knew, bankruptcy protection was part of standard commercial
>> law.  Where, pray tell, do you see any use of reductio ad absurdum?
> 
>Again, what does it matter what part of the law the bankruptcy protection
>comes under.  The point is that the government, in some form or another,
>is causing problems for healthy companies by allowing bankrupt companies
>to compete with them.  

So we are now at the point where we should not only have no federal
regulatino, but we should have no law?

> 
>> I have.  It's been losing money for years, with every once in a while
>> a few companies managing to briefly turn a profit.  Then they go back
>> to that nice competition they have, and everybody loses some more
>> money. 
> 
>Southwest Airlines has made money for the last 18 years.  Why?  Because
>they're smart, they keep their costs down, they don't expand beyond their
>means and they keep their debt low.

Excuse me.  I may have been unclear.  I didn't mean show me AN airline
that made money.  I meant show me a year in which the airline industry
overall made a profit.

> 
>> When was the last time the airline industry in this country made a
>> profit, overall, Doug?  That's not "razor thin profits".  That's
> 
>To be honest, I don't know.  But you don't either.  You're making
>assertions based on a minimum of information.  

I don't believe they have made a profit since about 1980 (overall),
but I don't have data to hand to prove that.  You're insisting that
it's just a shakeout.  That would mean that the industry overall would
be profitable, with losses at the maring.  If the whole industry is
losing money, you're looking at more than a shakeout.

> 
> 
>Ok, I managed to get some real information.  I don't have any industry
>figures, but I do have numbers for some of the individual companies.
> 
>American Airlines (AMR Corp) has made money every year from 1981 to 1990,
>with the exception of 1981 and 1990 (and those losses were small, about
>10% of their average profits).
> 
>United Airlines (UAL Corp) made money in 1982, 83, 84, 86, 88, 89, and 90.
>Again, their losses were fairly small.  Their biggest loss was in 1981,
>when they lost $71 million.  By contrast, in 1988 they had a profit of
>$600 million.
> 
>The point is that this is simply a shake-out (perhaps a large shakeout)
>and the airline industry has been profitable and will be profitable in the
>future.  

No, SOME COMPANIES have been profitable.  If the industry is overall
losing money, you are NOT looking at a shakeout.

-- 
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
 in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
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