Subsidizing Of The Airlines Industry

20 Pages 5038 Words

ropriations Committees have reversed or diluted Bush's proposed cuts. While the House kept intact the cuts for the Advanced Technology Program and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, it diluted the cuts for the Small Business Administration and the Export-Import Bank. The Senate voted to increase the budgets for the Advanced Technology Program and federal assistance to energy companies.
The Advanced Technology Program, the Small Business Innovative Research program, the Partnership for the Next Generation of Vehicles, and the Export-Import Bank are among the worst corporate welfare programs. They subsidize large, profitable corporations at the expense of taxpayers for projects that already receive, or could receive, adequate funding from the private sector. A good way to abolish corporate welfare programs would be to convene a (CWRC) Corporate Welfare Reform Commission. That commission could function like the successful military base closure commission. The CWRC could compose a list of corporate welfare programs to eliminate and then present that list to Congress, which would have to hold an up-or-down vote on the commission proposal. The commission would help reform-minded legislators to end federal subsidies to business.

Airline Deregulation
Airline regulation was another form of government intervention. Before the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) regulated every detail of the airline industry. Most importantly, it determined what routes each airline could fly and what air fares each could charge. It even determined whether a new airline could enter the industry. It also regulated levels of service, employment policies, finances, business structure, cargo, and other factors. All of this is to prevent a monopoly or duopoly in the airline business. However, under the 1978 Act and the subsequent Civil Aeronautics Board Sunset Act of 1984, all this regulatory power was eliminated and the...