Hi Alan,
Don't disagree with you (although we should be careful were that line between a free market and outright protectionism is drawn - yes it should be drawn, but not too far on either side). I buy products based on their quality for the task in hand, and if that means they're British, all the better. My furniture is British, my telly is Japanese. We make great furniture but we make crap tellies.
I kind of wanted to avoid going into this detail, since it's turning over old ground from A.net, but since you asked
Virgin USA going into the US is not going to take American jobs away - as a domestic airline, the rank & file will have to be American citizens to work there (it's in the US, afterall). And, because of the regulations surrounding airline ownership in the US, it will be majority owned by Americans - Branson is legally restricted to have a minority interest in it. He no-doubt will exercise a fair bit of influence over the direction of the company, but it is, at the end of the day, an American company, paying American taxes with American employees.
However, some of the A.net posts have completely ignored these facts, and just gone for the jugular. A lot seem to think Branson will put legacy airlines out of business. Hmmm? Well, that's kind of what JetBlue & Southwest are doing already, and that's capitalism. The situation would be no different if Branson were American, and propping up a failing airline artificially isn't in the interests of the consumer, the employee and ultimately the taxpayer.
Pix
I went for a Philips
