-----Original Message----- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of David B. Shemano
> The last time I looked there is a fully-functioning airline system in the United States. Hum, there are airlines in the USA but I wouldn't really call them "fully-functioning" and they don't appear to operate in anything that looks very much like the normal capitalist system. They reschedule their debts all the time and they don't ever seem to keep to the contracts they make. You surely could not run the whole of American industry on this basis. >This is factually incorrect. As we discussed awhile ago, workers are a favored bankruptcy constituency Oh come on David this is wilfully missing the point. Workers are a favoured bankruptcy constituency only for salaries earned but not paid (ie they are only a favoured constituency for the amounts for which they are actual creditors of the company). As far as reneging on labour contracts (and even pension benefits are concerned), this is one of the first things that companies are allowed to do in Chapter 11. The factor that Michael has correctly identified is that, practically alone among contracts, collective labour bargaining agreements are these days treated as if they weren't really proper contracts and the employer is allowed to just chuck them away when they become onerous. This is one of the main reasons for the high levels of bankruptcy in some industries; it is quite easy to structure your company so it is going to go bankrupt and Chapter 11 is a normal tool of labour relations in some industries. dd
