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HOMESTEAD: Fwd: COGALL: US Airliine Industry seeks Government Bailout - Employees should get stock in return.



The attached suggestion is right on target.  This is the time to restructure 
these airlines so that the employees gain an ownership share.  Of course, 
United and Southwest are already partly or wholely employee ownered, although 
United could improve by practicing Value-Based Management.  For more 
information on this, see www.cesj.org.

Michael Bindner
--- Begin Message --- Dear COG All:

        Page 1, column 1 of the Wall Street Journal dated 9/17/01 says the airline "industry is publicly pleading and privately lobbying for a Congressional bailout" from the $1 billion loss it incurred due to the terrorist attacks that closed the airports and greatly diminished air travel.

        This is an understandable plea and perhaps one that Congress should respond to positively. However, if so,  it immediately raises the following question. If Congress uses taxpayer money to help a private company, what upside return should taxpayers receive? I think the answer is that if the taxpayers participate in a company's pain, they must also participate in its gain by receiving equity. The following link is to the Fair Exchange Proposal (also called "Stock or Equity Quid Pro Quo") in the COG paper Ownership for Everyone.http://capitalownership.org/PapersMay2001/Homestead.htm .If you are interested in pursuing this idea, please join the COG Homestead by registering at   http://capitalownership.org/register.html  If you are already registered, please send your comments to homestead@cog.kent.edu. (You cannot reach others by replying to this email - as the COGall list is not, itself a discussion group.)

        Congress insisted on the employees receiving stock valued at approximately a 15% interest in Chrysler, when they provided a bailout to help that company avoid bankruptcy under the Chrysler Loan Guarantee Act of 1979. (See D. Olson, 1982 Wis. L.R. 729 at 775-777 http://www.esoplaw.com/WisLR%20complete.htm ) Had the employees retained that ownership stake, there might have been a very different outcome to Daimler's recent ill-fated purchase of Chrysler.

        I look forward to your thoughts and proposed next steps.

Best regards,
Deb Olson
--- End Message ---