Attention All Passengers by William J. McGee

transportation tapped the chairman of United Airlines to head the FAAC Competition Subcommittee.
    Some argue Obama has been an improvement, however, and point to DOT secretary LaHood’s passenger rights regulations as proof. “There’s been a decent amount of change,” says Paul Hudson of the Aviation Consumer Action Project. He asserts Republican views toward passengers were unduly harsh: “The DOT secretary would tell Congress that market forces would address all problems. Or else people don’t have to fly.”
    There’s also no denying that some presidential administrations have been more proactive than others on airline safety. For example, an analysis conducted in 2010 by News 21–Center for Public Integrity found the NTSB “issued significantly fewer recommendations for improvements” under President George W. Bush. Here’s the tally of average annual NTSB recommendations for improvement under five consecutive White House staffs:
    Carter                        384
    Reagan                      445
    G. H. W. Bush           417
    Clinton                      329
    G. W. Bush                155
    In response to how both Republicans and Democrats have served the interests of the airline industry rather than the interests of passengers, there is strong evidence such influence may affect even the most high-profile politicians. Industry veterans recall that Senator John McCain was an outspoken advocate for passenger rights reform in 1999 and sponsored the Airline Passenger Fairness Act; I can recall a telephone conference with him on the topic. Then, in June 1999, he suddenly switched course and supported a watered-down voluntary pledge from the airlines, and this Washington Post headline sums it up succinctly: “A McCain Crusade Faded as Airlines Donated.” Yep: that month the airline industry proffered $226,000 in “soft money,” including $85,000 from American Airlines for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The Post also reported that Phoenix-based America West (now Phoenix-based US Airways) was “one of McCain’s top benefactors.” Hudson recalls being stunned by McCain’s actions: “He ditched the bill and said the airlines would address it themselves. Coincidentally he had gotten lots of donations from airlines. We’ve seen this movie before.”
    Allegations of unlevel playing fields apply not only to airlines but also to commercial aircraft manufacturers. In March 2011 the World Trade Organization issued a lengthy “dispute settlement” in response to a complaint filed by Europe-based Airbus, finding that Boeing had been unfairly subsidized by a host of U.S. government entities, including NASA, the Department of Defense, and the states of Washington, Kansas, and Illinois. However, one year earlier the WTO had found that the European Communities and the nations of Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Spain had unfairly subsidized Airbus. Clearly when it comes to corporations bending the rules, there’s plenty of blame to be spread on a global basis.
    So how did a government of, by, and for the people suddenly become a government of, by, and for the S&P 500? “It’s all caught up in this free trade/free market mantra,” says airline academic Paul Dempsey. “You have high school graduates, blue-collar workers with no jobs. But that doesn’t matter. They’re told they can go flip burgers. What matters is that consumers are given lower prices.” Dempsey believes Oscar Wilde’s assessment of cynics also applies to economists: “They know the price of everything and the value of