Reminds me of a story I read years ago, about two railroad lines built in the US in the 1800's. One was privately financed, and they made win-win deals with the Indians and others for land rights. They also turned a profit, and efficiently ran the railroad. The other railroad was government sponsored. They killed the Indians, instead of making deals with them (I believe Grant was involved), or stole land. And the cost overruns were enormous; it was a continual sinkhole for tax money. Of course, in a few years, the government sponsored railroad put the private one out of business.
If anyone has a link to the original story, please post it.
Just a note, in ‘87 or ‘88 I was in Lagos. The Russians, I understand, had commissioned a brand new power station that ran on refuse. It sat idle. Know why? They neglected the infrastructure, power lines, relay stations, such like, to transmit the power.
Meanwhile, in spite of having oil reserves, a large share of Nigeria's people still don't even have LPG to cook with. The plans to build an operating refinery have supported many engineers, but somehow they still can't get the industry on its feet. The oil? What doesn't get stolen ends up being exported for hard currency that goes to.........and when people talk about Africa's vast resources and how they could lift its people out of poverty they're annoyed when we laugh. No amount of foreign aid fixes this.
Pan Am founder and CEO Juan Trippe was not only instrumental in the creation of an iconic airline, he was also arguably the greatest aviation pioneer of the 20th century. No single individual did more to establish international air travel than Juan Trippe. Having worked in Boeing product development on wide body aircraft for 32 years, I can tell you that it’s the airlines that launch new commercial airliners, not the aircraft manufacturers. Without Juan Trippe the 747 likely never would have been launched by Boeing. He also played a major role in the success of a number of other major aircraft at the dawn of the jet age, including the 707 and DC-8. His outsized personality and leadership was so melded with Pan Am that the airline could not survive the demise of the man. Juan Trippe passed in 1981, working to near the end of his life.
Private vs public boondoggles. CEO’s are canned, workers laid off, while Government Representatives fail repeatedly.
One would think that their employer would fire them.
Nope, the dumbasses re-elect them for decades!
Reminds me of a story I read years ago, about two railroad lines built in the US in the 1800's. One was privately financed, and they made win-win deals with the Indians and others for land rights. They also turned a profit, and efficiently ran the railroad. The other railroad was government sponsored. They killed the Indians, instead of making deals with them (I believe Grant was involved), or stole land. And the cost overruns were enormous; it was a continual sinkhole for tax money. Of course, in a few years, the government sponsored railroad put the private one out of business.
If anyone has a link to the original story, please post it.
Bill should end his missives with.....
Bill Bonner
Pronouns: We
Spoiler Alert:
My explanation of why Nigeria and the US are still in existence is because of their endless right of theft from their citizens.
An interesting question: Should nations be allowed to go bankrupt?
Well they do and are, just not chapter 11!
This is one of the times that reading one of your messages makes me want to read Atlas Shrugged... again !
Just a note, in ‘87 or ‘88 I was in Lagos. The Russians, I understand, had commissioned a brand new power station that ran on refuse. It sat idle. Know why? They neglected the infrastructure, power lines, relay stations, such like, to transmit the power.
Meanwhile, in spite of having oil reserves, a large share of Nigeria's people still don't even have LPG to cook with. The plans to build an operating refinery have supported many engineers, but somehow they still can't get the industry on its feet. The oil? What doesn't get stolen ends up being exported for hard currency that goes to.........and when people talk about Africa's vast resources and how they could lift its people out of poverty they're annoyed when we laugh. No amount of foreign aid fixes this.
Bring back Clippers. Then there was Lockerby and Carl Icahn.
Sorry Carl, TWA
Pan Am founder and CEO Juan Trippe was not only instrumental in the creation of an iconic airline, he was also arguably the greatest aviation pioneer of the 20th century. No single individual did more to establish international air travel than Juan Trippe. Having worked in Boeing product development on wide body aircraft for 32 years, I can tell you that it’s the airlines that launch new commercial airliners, not the aircraft manufacturers. Without Juan Trippe the 747 likely never would have been launched by Boeing. He also played a major role in the success of a number of other major aircraft at the dawn of the jet age, including the 707 and DC-8. His outsized personality and leadership was so melded with Pan Am that the airline could not survive the demise of the man. Juan Trippe passed in 1981, working to near the end of his life.