And so it starts - the unionization of America

Obama wants Unions and the Unions want Obama (Obama's most frequent White House guest is SEIU president Andy Stern) This is all about consolidation of power, it is not about benefiting the working man or helping stabilize the American economy. Raw Political Power. For this to work, more and more workplaces need to be unionized. It's starting -- from Breitbart/Associated Press:

Unions prod Obama to fix ailing airline industry
Three decades of airline deregulation have helped make air travel more accessible to consumers through lower fares.

Now labor unions are questioning whether the industry is paying the price, and the Obama administration is listening.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was holding a forum Thursday to discuss the state of the airline industry, which is mired in a severe economic slump and blamed for using a business model critics say undermines safety. The industry has suffered repeated shocks in recent years, including the 9/11 terror attacks, the SARS virus, volatile oil prices and the current economic downturn.

"U.S. aviation is facing severe economic uncertainty, and an open and frank conversation will help begin a continuing dialogue about the industry's future," Transportation Department spokeswoman Sasha Johnson said.

Airlines are offering the fewest seats to passengers, measured by available seats and distance traveled, in more than a decade. They have shed more than 158,000 full-time jobs since employment peaked in 2001 and lost an estimated $33 billion over the past decade. Thirteen airlines have filed for bankruptcy in the past two years.

Hell, I think the airlines are doing just great. The ones that are well managed make money. The ones that are poorly managed loose money and fail. We just flew on Alaska a few weeks ago and it was great -- they redesigned the ticket counters in SEA so checking in is a breeze. We paid an extra $15 for our checked bag which is a lot cheaper than if we had air-freighted it to SFO so the price is very reasonable. The flight down was $49, flight back was $149. Hawai'ian Airlines used to not be that great, they lost business as a result, went through bankruptcy reorganization and it is now doing just fine. The telling sentence from the article is this one:

The forum, which is closed to the public and the media, was organized at the request of the AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department.

Closed to the public and the media. Why are they so afraid of a little transparency and openness? Wonder when this will get spilled on WikiLeaks...