Skybus, RIP
Monday, April 7th, 2008 By David Hansen
We’ve written before about Skybus, a low-cost, low-fare start-up airline based in Columbus. Skybus ceased operations last Friday evening.
A number of investors voluntarily risked much on the Skybus and lost their bet.
A lot of local and state taxpayers and Port Columbus service users similarly risked much, but the difference lies in our motivation. We were compelled to bet on the Skybus business plan and general economic conditions through taxes and fees that we had no choice but to pay.
Remember, our bets were placed by politicians spending someone else’s money. This would be politicians seeking not the best possible balance between risk and reward (and how can they possibly know the aggregate of all our individual preferences in this regard), but politicians seeking what rewards them, namely photo-ops and contributions and other perks of power.
Tags: Corporate Welfare
