Baldanza (Spirit's CEO) supposedly told one of his staff in an email to handle the complaint and said, "we owe him nothing as far as I'm concerned. Let him tell the world how bad we are. He's never flown us before anyway and will be back when we save him a penny."
As our alpha generation collapses, our beta has turned negative, our delta
hedging has gone toxic and, trust me, you do not want to hear about our gamma.
We can't even find our epsilons in the dark with both hands…
We have, of course, been in touch with the rating companies to update
our default-probability scenarios, particularly on the AAA rated investments we
own. They recommended a forecasting method using stochastics to regress the
drift-to-downgrade timescales for the past 100 years and throw them forward for
the next five minutes. The technical term for this is ``induction,'' though
those of you of a less quantitative bent may know it as ``guessing.''
We, the undersigned, have serious concerns about the recent protectionist sentiments coming from Congress, especially with regards to China.
By the end of this year, China will most likely be the United States' second largest trading partner. Over the past six years, total trade between the two countries has soared, growing from $116 billion in 2000 to almost $343 billion in 2006. That's an average growth rate of almost 20% a year.
This marvelous growth has led to more affordable goods, higher productivity, strong job growth, and a higher standard of living for both countries. These economic benefits were made possible in large part because both China and the United States embraced freer trade.
As economists, we understand the vital and beneficial role that free trade plays in the world economy. Conversely, we believe that barriers to free trade destroy wealth and benefit no one in the long run. Because of these fundamental economic principles, we sign this letter to advise Congress against imposing retaliatory trade measures against China.
There is no foundation in economics that supports punitive tariffs. China currently supplies American consumers with inexpensive goods and low-interest rate loans. Retaliatory tariffs on China are tantamount to taxing ourselves as a punishment. Worse, such a move will likely encourage China to impose its own tariffs, increasing the possibility of a futile and harmful trade war. American consumers and businesses would pay the price for this senseless war through higher prices, worse jobs, and reduced economic growth.
We urge Congress to discard any plans for increased protectionism, and instead urge lawmakers to work towards fostering stronger global economic ties through free trade.
This petition was posted in the WSJ this week. We'll see if it does any good...
