The Future Is Now

Abstract

The overarching themes involved in the manufacturing of aircraft today are the same ones that have dominated the entire airline industry since its inception. Think about it this way: the airlines are the customers who ultimately purchase the planes. We know how unprofitable the airlines are and how historically unstable the industry has been. So how is it that manufacturers, with all of their massive overhead and fixed costs, can sustain themselves when their customers are some of the least profitable companies in history? It’s simple: the building of planes has been always been dependent on government subsidies and support for its survival. This is not a criticism, merely a statement of the way it is.

“If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” —Ronald Reagan, on how government keeps expanding