ATSB, You're cleared for landing

May 30, 2006 5:37 PM

You just made $300 Million (well, you in the "We The People..." sense). The Air Transportation Stabilization Board (ATSB) was authorized by Congress shortly after the 9/11 attacks. It was critized by the Bush administration and some members of Congress as a risky bailout of major airlines, offering to guarantee up to $10B in loans. However, only $1.6B in loans were actually guaranteed under this program. And now, as their work wraps up, the American taxpayer stands to see an extra $300M in the coffers of the US Treasury.
posted by SirOmega (20 comments total)

That pays for two and half days in Iraq.
posted by caddis at 5:41 PM on May 30, 2006

They could mail each American citizen a dollar.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 5:42 PM on May 30, 2006

They could mail each American citizen a dollar.

They could just mail the richest 1% 100 dollars.
posted by hoborg at 5:52 PM on May 30, 2006

or they could mail the richest 99% $1.01
posted by delmoi at 5:54 PM on May 30, 2006

Lovely. We haven't turned a total profit, just because we got some money back. We made out by selling equity & charging additional fees, and in return 'we the people' now own part of two of these companies. We're just less in the hole, and now we have a vested interest in keeping them afloat, because we'd lose the investment involved in obtaining 6% of one airline and 20% of another.

Tell me, how will these interests vote? After all, they're publically held companies - the PBGC now owns 20% of United. Do we get a say in how these shares vote in terms of company policy? Say, how their pensions are managed?

This should be interesting to follow.
posted by FormlessOne at 6:00 PM on May 30, 2006

delmoi: that would prob cost more than $1.01 in postage
posted by elpapacito at 6:00 PM on May 30, 2006

Who's the last Republican in power who actually believed in the power and sense of free markets, as opposed to their value as rhetorical sledgehammers?
posted by bardic at 6:03 PM on May 30, 2006

PBCG pays an estimated $3 BILLION due to US Airways' bankruptcy, while ATSB on earns approximately $100 MILLION from funding US Airways merger with America West. What a great deal for us taxpayers.
posted by blue mustard at 6:06 PM on May 30, 2006

I think the answer is clear, more bridges for Alaska.
posted by Atreides at 6:46 PM on May 30, 2006

What caddis said, except it is only about 1.75 days of a senseless war... we're at $177 million per day now...
posted by HuronBob at 6:50 PM on May 30, 2006

This will go some way towards paying off the astronomical costs of the war in Iraq. And by 'some way' I mean "in virtually no way whatsoever."

A question which may sound snarky but is totally not intended to be; Is anyone involved in the administration actually trumpeting this as a good thing for the people, or is it just SirOmega?
posted by Effigy2000 at 6:51 PM on May 30, 2006

This will go some way towards paying off the astronomical costs of the war in Iraq. And by 'some way' I mean "in virtually no way whatsoever."

A question which may sound snarky but is totally not intended to be; Is anyone involved in the administration actually trumpeting this as a good thing for the people, or is it just SirOmega?
posted by Effigy2000 at 6:51 PM on May 30, 2006

This will go some way towards paying off the astronomical costs of the war in Iraq. And by 'some way' I mean "in virtually no way whatsoever."

A question which may sound snarky but is totally not intended to be; Is anyone involved in the administration actually trumpeting this as a good thing for the people, or is it just SirOmega?
posted by Effigy2000 at 6:51 PM on May 30, 2006

Argh! It happened again! Admins; please delete two of my above comments. (Hopes it dosen't happen again when posting this comment.)
posted by Effigy2000 at 6:52 PM on May 30, 2006

We invested $1.6 Billon over five years, and we got 1.9 billion back.

Nice Job. Compounding annually, that's a return of 3.5%. Why, that didn't even beat inflation.

Yay!
posted by eriko at 6:55 PM on May 30, 2006

Just stick it over in the corner, it's blocking the way of the forklifts carrying pallets of real cash.
posted by Balisong at 7:15 PM on May 30, 2006

Drop meets bucket.
posted by furtive at 9:09 PM on May 30, 2006

Hey, we could use that teeny, tiny, paltry sum to save endangered species! Why, that would triple what's being spent on them right now!

Yeah, it's nothing to us here in the U.S.! We're talking about endangered animals throughout the entire country! Let's take this pittance and use it to save animals! Great animals, like the whales in the Puget Sound (the orcas, I mean), and the southern sea otters, and ones that can't even be put on the endangered species list because of the government backlog, give them a little attention, try to bring them back from the brink...
posted by salvia at 12:57 AM on May 31, 2006

Maybe there should be more government involvement in the economy like that.
posted by tranquileye at 4:41 AM on May 31, 2006

PBCG pays an estimated $3 BILLION due to US Airways' bankruptcy, while ATSB on earns approximately $100 MILLION from funding US Airways merger with America West.

It's insurance, and sometimes insurance companies pay more in claims than they collect in premiums-- even though that wasn't the case in 2005 (.pdf). Nonetheless, the Republicans' failure to reform the PBGC is yet another in the long line of what-good-is-it-to-elect-a-republican? headscratchers.
posted by Kwantsar at 5:08 AM on May 31, 2006