What other mistakes willl John Edwards make?

As I've written previously, I do like John Edwards, but I'm starting to question whether he would really be a good president.

His admission that he made a mistake in voting to authorize the invasion of Iraq is well-known; less well known is his 2001 vote in favor of a change in bankruptcy law that consumer advocates say made it harder for families to get out of debt, about which he wrote in 2005, "I can't say it more simply than this: I was wrong."

So what are we to make of a presidential contender who is repeatedly -- by his own admission -- wrong. It would be one thing if these were relatively inconsequential or obscure votes, but these were not. The bankruptcy bill was controversial at the time, and was extensively debated, and though not as heavily debated, no one disputes the significance of the Iraq war vote.

I still like John Edwards, but if he was wrong on these important issues, what else will he get wrong?

Two for the price of one!

Here it is, folks; the day we've all been waiting for. Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines, both going bankrupt the same day!

I bet all those Northwest mechanics, striking from their $37/hour jobs, feel pretty stupid now. Yesterday they lost their jobs (Northwest began hiring permanent replacements) and today they will lose their pensions. Happy retirement job hunting!

Who would have predicted two of America's largest and best-known companies would become penny-stocks?

Plenty of people. At this point it is clear that the US aviation industry is an unmitigated disaster. United Airlines. US Airways. Delta. Northwest. Our biggest air carriers are completely and universally unable to turn a profit. Nor is this a recent phenomenon brought on by rising fuel costs, Hurricane Katrina, the war in Iraq, or the September 11 attacks. For decades, the airlines have been playing this game, blaming external events for their failure and getting bailed out by the US government.

There are two solutions for this problem. One is to nationalize US aviation. The other is to let the free market run its course. No more bail-outs. No more emergency federal loans. If an airline can't turn a profit, they go out of business. Anything less will just prolong the problem, and increase the cost taxpayers must eventually bear.

Tags: airlines, strategy, Northwest, Delta, strike, union, bankruptcy

Northwest Airlines employees strike

Shares of Northwest closed down 10 cents, or 1.8 percent, at $5.38 Friday on Nasdaq, as the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, representing 5,400 mechanics, cleaners and custodians, went on strike.

I have to confess my surprise at this. I thought a strike, particularly a really crippling strike, would have been just the thing to tip the struggling airline into bankruptcy. Although bankruptcy is usually viewed as a negative, in this case it would allow Northwest to dump their pensions on the PBGC and restructure all their labor contracts. Today, bankruptcy could be a competitive tool in the airline industry.

Tags: airlines, business, strategy, Northwest, strike, bankruptcy

Zero plus zero equals....

Yesterday US Airways and America West Airlines announced their intent to merge, forming the nation's fifth largest passenger airline. How well will these two firms integrate?

According to the US Department of Transportation these two airlines ranked 17th and 18th out of 19 airlines in complaints per 100,000 passengers for the first three months of this year. "We've corrected problems before; we can correct them again," according to America West spokesman Carlo Bertolini said. According to US Airways spokeswoman Amy Kudwa, "We've had a renewed focus on on-time performance."

US Airways has filed for bankruptcy twice in the last three years, and both companies continue to struggle financially, with junk bond debt ratings. Moody's Investors Service said that even after a merger, the two companies would continue to face a difficult operating environment.

It sounds like these two companies are on the same page - unfortunately for them it's not the right one!