I bet the Regressivist CloneBots and Apocalyptophiliacs will be feverishly ejaculating about this for the next century. But those of us who live in the real world know that Chapter 11 bankrupcy restructuring is Standard Operating Proceedure for big companies. In a past life, I worked for a big satellite music company that went Chapt. 11 as part of being sold; being young and naive at the time it freaked me out, but the CEO and new owners just regarded it as standard corporate behavior and it never affected daily operations.
Below is a list of American Air-transport carriers currently in chapt. 11, too:
-
- Northwest Airlines
- Delta Air Lines (including Delta’s Song brand and Delta’s wholly-owned subsidiary Comair, which operates as “Delta Connection”)
- Mesaba Aviation (operating as “Mesaba Airlines” and “Big Sky Airlines”; independently owned from Northwest Airlines, and independently bankrupt, but also operating as “Northwest Airlink” under a code-sharing agreement)
- Era Aviation (independently owned from Alaska Airlines, but also operating some flights as “Alaska Airlines” under a code-sharing agreement)
- Independence Air (formerly named “Atlantic Coast Airlines”; ceased service 5 January 2006 and being liquidated)
Especially interesting is that Delta and Northwest file on the same day–Sept. 14, 2005 within minutes of each other. This means that currently over half of all U.S.-based air capacity is running under Chapt. 11. People and freight still get there. They still have the same salty nuts and fiberboard entreés, and there will be a ‘SkyMall’ magazine imploring you to buy manufactured diamond by the pound.
It’s worth keeping in mind that Fox news lost HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of dollars over the span of several years before they even broke even; only Rupert Murdoch’s deep pockets and the cash-flow from his other properties kept it going long enough to pull out of the red. So yo, my Progressive Sisters and Brothers, don’t sweat it, EMBRACE IT and let the CloneBots spew their bile. Loads of corporations and individuals have gone bankrupt and built on the lessons learned to come back and kick ass. We don’t really need a national ‘network’ to annoint us as valid Progressives; to paraphrase Tip O’Neil, ALL RADIO IS LOCAL. We’re Liberals and Progressives! We don’t need to march in lock-step under any one corporate banner!