Truck and Barter

The New York Sun has a nice editorial online lamenting a rise in protection running through congress. Yes, some of this has occured on Republicans watch, but it is only likely to get worse under Democrats. The article specifically singles out protectionism in the airline industry by barring foreign investment. This sitaution has particularly interested me since the feds started handing out money to them post 9/11. Here's a snippet:

When historians look back on our current time, what are they going to conclude signaled the end of our current economic expansion, one of the greatest in the history of America? We're starting to have the feeling that they are going to date it with the accession of the Democratic Party via the 110th Congress. That is certainly the portent in the latest dashed hope of the Bush administration, a plan to adjust, if only modestly, a rule that hurts American airline passengers by barring international investment and involvement.

The rule bars non-citizens from owning greater than a 25% voting share in any domestic airline and requires that the top executives and a majority of the boards of these airlines be American. The federal secretary of transportation, Mary Peters, announced yesterday that her department was withdrawing a proposal to change the rule.

"It was clear from reviewing the comments that the Department needs to do more to inform the public, labor groups and Congress about the benefits of allowing more international investment," Ms. Peters said in a statement. The AFLCIO promptly hailed the Bush administration's surrender as a victory, crediting "strong and unified opposition from America's transportation unions." What it really means is that at a moment when America's air carriers need all the capital they can muster, the Congress is a roadblock to their raising capital.