Come on, give the white house some credit. I think they've done pretty well in protecting their markets with:
- Chapter 11 protection
- Research grants to Boeing
- Fly America policy
- Ownership restrictions; 40% with 25% voting rights.
- Open skies only with countries where they'll have strategic advantage.
- Cabotage laws. e.t.c
I was quite shocked they allowed internal mega-consolidations that started with Delta/NorthWest and now Continental/United. Without the amalgamation of the European manufacturers into EADS, airbus will still have been playing second fiddle. Just a shame that the recession and it's attendant over 9% unemployment coupled with Chinese incursion into large scale medium skill manufacturing is making recovery a bit slow for the US and Europe.