MrFedEx
Engorged Member
Really not a problem if the airlines pay back the bail out money. did corps do that after the 2008 mess? I really don't know. will have to google that. of course they make the avg american pay in the end.
I do know that Iacoca and his car company did back in another time.
Ford didn't take bailout money. The other car companies paid it back with interest and went on to have record profit years. I don't know with the airlines. They cut pensions and furloughed or laid-off large numbers of people. TARP actually was repaid, and the taxpayers made a profit off the loans.
Iacocca also paid back the bailout money given to Chrysler in the 1980's.
What's scary here is the multiplier effect. If the airlines go under it has a massive ripple effect on associated industries like tourism, Boeing etc. Same with Boeing. Hundreds of suppliers, large and small, have thousands of jobs directly tied to aircraft manufacturing. It was the same with the car companies.
If you don't bail them out, it actually makes things worse. That said, they shouldn't be able to direct so much cash flow to stock buybacks.