Posted by Dean Calvert (dcalvert) on 3/6/2007, 9:23 am, in reply to "Re: Anyone believing..." Couple of thoughts... First, while it may not be obvious from this post - I'm not against competition of any sort. I'm a laissez faire capitalist at heart, and firmly believe that competition breeds excellence. What I'm against, on the other hand, is committees of bureaucrats, whether they are ecclesial, governmental or otherwise, generally PLAYING WITH OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY, pretending to be interested in competition. When this happens, no excellence is bred - and all that generally happens is that markets become temporarily confused. While I know my commercial analogies make people's hair stand up, Airbus provides a great example. This European consortium, essentially nothing more than a European aerospace "public works" program, got into the business of making airplanes a few years ago. The Western Europeans saw this as an American preserve, and were envious of the high paying jobs they were providing in Seattle and elsewhere in North America. They also correctly observed the huge and favorable impact of aerospace exports on the US balance of trade. The result: The European govts ploughed billions into the venture, and Airbus racked up annual loss after loss. What was the result? A great (but number 2) commercial aerospace company here in America, McDonnell Douglas, maker of the Phantom F-4, DC9, essentially folded - was basically forced to sell out to arch-rival Boeing. Not because they couldn't compete with Boeing, but because they couldn't compete with Germany and France (the backers of Airbus). In a few years the Airbus backers, those same European govts, will run out of money, Airbus will fold - and only (a "winged" - pardon the pun) Boeing will be left. Meanwhile, the more efficient competitor, McDonell Douglas, will have been run out of the business. Why? Because a bunch of European bureaucrats, playing with other people's tax dollars, decided to throw a few billion at the aerospace industry. I'm all for competition - just not the kind that we are witnessing here. Sorry but this decision defies logic AND economic sense. Best Regards,
Dear Fr. George,
Adam Smith 
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