[dmix]

> Society has decided that closing down large employers is a cure worse than the disease.

This sort of thinking is exactly why companies like Boeing get a free pass to do whatever it wants. Local govs protect them like the mob because "jobs" and then Congress panics every time they see the market only has 1-2 options for national security stuff and then reinforces monopolies that slowly eat away at the country's competitive advantage for short term relief. And all were left with is the same small group of untouchable, completely mediocre mega corporations living off past glory when there was actual real competition and risk.

Every time you kick the can you just delay getting the medicine you need. Then instead of having a wildly successful company making new products and dominating the global market - which is something employees and govs benefit from via salaries/taxes/local development, foreign competition takes those jobs or protectionism creepingly increases the cost of doing business because a dying corpse is propped up. Then employees get squeezed and suddenly the mega corporation is getting billions in welfare. And the public gets worse and worse products, which impact other industries that depend on them.

[Spartan-S63]

Why not solve the "jobs" crisis of shutting down business in this situation by inverting liquidation preference and injecting employees to the front of the line? When the business liquidates as a result of close of business, creditors and investors become last in line and the preference adds employees (ICs first) with executives, creditors, and investors either completely cut out or left at the end of the line.

The folks who did the job on the floor walk away with a chunk of change that's runway for them to find a next job, or whatever they want to do. Creditors, investors, and execs are left holding the bag, as they should.

[ryandrake]

I think there are more options than just "disappearing" the company. Why not break them up into commercial and defense companies? Or even better, tell them: You need to figure out how to break your staff and assets up into four separate, competing companies that all produce airplanes. Go! Probably many other ways to skin the cat, but the US population (proxied through government) is just unwilling to do anything. We treat companies with kid gloves and just let them walk all over us.

[projectileboy]

The 1-2 options is a big part of the problem. Government has been willfully asleep at the wheel allowing massive mergers to take place for decades. Then, oops, all of the few remaining companies are now too big to fail, so now what? This isn’t only a problem in the defense industry.