On Wed, 27 Oct 2004 00:34:09 +0000, Lee Witten wrote:
> nobody wrote in news:417DD6A4.2522C9E6@nobody.org:
>> Lee Witten wrote:
>>> So on the A380, the taxpayers get nothing untill 400 A380s are bought
>>> and paid for, and will only get to the break even point when 1000
>>> (gasp) A380s are bought and paid for.
>> If governments were banks, then that is correct. But governments
>> collect taxes from every employed person as well as sales of goods and
>> services. And for every job that is created, it measn one less person
>> on welfare/dole/unemployment insurance.
>
> You seem to be presuming that Airbus can't get commercial loans to fund
> all of its development efforts. Wrong. Boeing's been doing it for
> decades now, and Airbus is now a healty and wealthy aircraft
> manufacturer. They can get loans if their programs are sensible, but
> they don't want to get loans with commercial terms and conditions if
> they don't have to.
Depends on which development effort. I imagine no one in its right mind
would want to put money toward their white elephant. They'll have to make
tons of money on their more sensible projects if they expect to be able to
pay back the money loaned by their governments for that one.
Mind you, in the meantime, Boeing seems to be sleeping at the helm. That
or they more or less decided their is no business case for airliners.
Which can only help Airbus survive their pharaoh complex.
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