Airline Pension Reviews Are Necessary

United and USAirways, while under bankruptcy protection, managed to jettison their respective pension plans. While there is legal precedence for them to do so, these airlines have tossed their plans away on the back of their employees, many of whom have little else to draw upon in their retirement.

Now that both companies have emerged from bankruptcy protection, what we are now seeing are fully scaled down companies ready to do battle. Lest they each forget, their very livelihood was built on the back of pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, customer support personnel, and so many other unnamed and unsung employees who breathed life into their respective airlines.

UAL, in particular, is poised to let 400 executives profit from an upcoming stock IPO. Many executives will be instant millionaires once the I.P.O. is complete. On the other hand, long time employees of United are without a pension plan. There is something terribly wrong with this picture.

Fortunately, the U.S. Government Accounting Office will soon be conducting a thorough investigation of the pension plan set asides. In my opinion, the federal government owes this to airline employees who have worked their hearts out only to lose the security of retirement. The airlines, for their part, have benefitted from billions of dollars of government aid over the years, particularly copious sums gained after 9/11. Thus, there must be some accountability on the part of the airlines for the decisions they have made that are now affecting current and retired employees.

Social Unrest or Preamble to an Industrial Revolution in China

As China builds up its war machine it has forgotten one thing. Industrial Revolutions and civil unrest go with rapid growth, which is unchecked. History for tells this and of all countries China should realize this. Yet they have never had true capitalism there and indeed this will be a problematic issue, as it is hard to rule with an iron first and simultaneously enjoy the fruits of capitalism. That leads to an over throw of government.

Of course if they fail to let lose of the reigns a bit they will not be able to continue this growth rate. Indeed the Beijing Club along with their friends and partners in the international financier groups are smart fellows, they must read the writing on the wall. Additionally if they think they can dig out of this mess by having a war and use wartime propaganda and spending on war to save themselves from financial ruin, they may find themselves battling an uncooperative population base with real world, real time Internet World Wide news, along with whomever they choose to fight.

If China moves to squash free speech and freedom of the press or doesn't take a low key approach to their extended growth, then they will create enemies that abroad and there will be a changing of the guard. You see it has been reported that there is much civil and social unrest in China these days;

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Social_Unrest_In_China_On_The_Rise.html

There are some tough choices coming up for China and those who have the largest stakes and committed financial assets, as they have other critical issues now. And an 850 Billion Dollar Surplus is not squat compared to what they need to maintain this growth, while keeping up with infrastructure needs. Think on this in 2006.

Coal Miner Rescue System Using Human Hibernation Safety Box

Coal Mining below ground is a most dangerous job. All Coal Miners know this each time they enter a mine and get on the portal bus. Coal Miners know there can be explosions and or collapses of the tunnels.

The Coal Miners work in teams and they work together using techniques that they have been trained for. They carry with them some life support systems with limited ability to sustain one for a brief time, hopefully long enough to find good air or a ventilation system.

They will work together as a team and get into a safety box if one is nearby. They generally get themselves secure and in a place with "good air" and then wait for the rescue team to come and get them out or make contact with them.

Each company has certified rescue teams on-call and ready to go in the rare event of such a potential eventuality or catastrophic horrific situation.

I propose an additional coal miner rescue system in each safety box, which would be used in case the Coal Miners are completely out of oxygen and surrounded by only poisonous gases such as Carbon Monoxide, Carbon Dioxide or other gases. This additional system would have in it hydrogen sulfide gas.

The hydrogen sulfide gas would be taken as a last resort, which could be breathed in and thus set their bodies would be lowered to only 10% of their normal.

This would give them 10-times the length of time until the rescue and thus improve their chances of survival during that critical time needed to dig them out or mount a rescue from another adjacent tunnel. Think on this in 2006, as this could be a great invention.