text: Form a blue ribbon commission to increase regulations and recommend other solutions to “fix” that struggling industry. I have an exam and a quiz to write right now, but this article is a goldmine of economic stupidity. Par for the course these days.
  Airlines are offering the fewest seats to passengers, measured by available seats and distance traveled, in more than a decade. They have shed more than 158,000 full-time jobs since employment peaked in 2001 and lost an estimated $33 billion over the past decade. Thirteen airlines have filed for bankruptcy in the past two years.
  So fewer people want to fly at existing prices and flying conditions. The “solution” to this problem is to continue letting the industry shrink. And in this bizarre world we live in, that is no longer acceptable. And people think that inefficient and wasteful government programs have a snowball’s chance in hell at being eliminated? We can’t even let “free market” firms die. The Administration’s solution to this “problem” is: “we need to have an open and frank conversation.” Really? Why the Transportation Department needs to have such a conversation is news to me. How about the shareholders and workers of the affected firms figure out ways to serve their customers better or make the decision to exit – just as many typewriter firms did?
  The Administration’s other “solution” … “We can’t keep doing things the exact same way and expect a better outcome,” Wytkind said, adding that new regulation probably should be considered. Yep, every “problem” can be remedied by more regulation from the idiots that cause most of the problems in the first place. Are the words profits and loss the equivalent of the swine flu virus to the wunderkinds in DC? Talk about partisan ideological hacks.
  While airline deregulation has been regarded as a success for consumers, other trends have raised concerns about whether airlines are offsetting low fares at the expense of safety.
  A report last year by a government watchdog said nine large U.S. airlines farm out 70 percent of major maintenance. Overseas repair shops handled one-quarter of the work, challenging the ability of U.S. inspectors to determine whether it is done properly, the report said.