An International Pilot Shortage

I would like to discuss a topic mentioned by Mary, a fellow student, in one of her blogs. With our world becoming more and more globalized, the demand for air travel is increasing at its highest rate ever. This demand is creating jobs, but so many that the current supply of pilots isn't nearly enough.

According to Mary's post, by 2026 there will be a pilot shortage of 15,000, and according to a CNN post, 609,000  more aircraft maintenance workers and 38,000 new airliners will be needed by 2034 in order to meet our growing demand for air travel (Harrison, 2015). Many say the lifestyles of pilots must improve to help improve this pilot shortage.

I grew up my whole life surrounded by aviation. My grandfather was a pilot and had several airplanes while I was growing up. Since the age of 14, I have been flying, receiving my pilots license at 17. While I once thought being a commercial pilot was my future career, other pilots I know soon talked me out of it, claiming the pay is nothing compared to the lifestyle you live. That was six years ago.

Like Mary stated, airlines are creating more benefits, increasing pay and helping pilots maintain their license much more easily in order to help ease this shortage. This is becoming  a very common trend in the aviation work place. A friend of mine flies regional for Delta and he claims his salary has already doubled after flying for only two years. With these changes,  more people are finally wanting to get into flying. Had these changes came six years ago, I could have been sitting in flight school instead of struggling through finance courses.

Harrison, Virginia ( July 2015). The world needs more pilots: 28,000 new jobs a year. CNN Money. 
         Retrieved from: http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/21/news/companies/boeing-pilots-demand/

Volkswagen Investors Want Their Money Back

Over the last year, Volkswagen stock prices have plummeted due to the company's recent emissions scandal. Volkswagen has been fined billions of dollars for using softwares in their cars that do properly control the emissions being released by the car, leading to many cars emitting higher emissions than what is allowed by most laws (Reuters, 2016). It is believed that over 11 million vehicles have been affected by this insufficient software (Reuters, 2016).

Investors who played no part in this fraud are furious and are demanding back the money they lost. On September 18 alone, 750 lawsuits were filed in the courts in Braunshcweig, just outside of Volkswagens Wolfsburg headquarters, with over a thousand more being filed in the days after (Reuters, 2016). So far damage claims have reached $8.2 billion from investors with that number expected to climb even higher (Reuters, 2016).

As of right now, Volkswagen has set aside $18 billion in order to pay off fines and to retro fit the cars they failed to test correctly (Reuters, 2016). Many businessmen believe that this amount will not be enough to do the job, which could lead to even lower stock prices for Volkswagen.


Reuters in Berlin (2016). VW investors seek €8.2bn in damages over emissions scandal. The  
              Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/sep/21/vw-volkswagen-investors-       
              damages-emissions-scandal-germany 

America is Losing More Jobs

Once again, America is losing jobs to a foreign competitor. Ford recently announced that all small automobile production, such as the Ford Focus, would be moved to Mexico in years come with an initial investment by Ford of over $1.6 million (Cook, 2016). The Mexican auto industry is only growing while the U.S. auto industry is only shrinking. Why is this?

The answer is simple, American corporate taxes are way to high. At 35%, they are currently the highest in the world, causing most production and low-skilled jobs to leave the U.S. Ford claims that the U.S. is not actually losing jobs due to this move because people that were working on the small automobiles will not be working on SUV and trucks (Cook, 2016). It may be great that no jobs are actually being lost, but the fact that we are losing jobs opportunities to Mexico is wrong, especially since Ford is an American company.

Although I do not agree with Donald Trump on many issues, when it comes to helping with jobs and incentives for corporations to do work here, he is the obvious candidate that would be best for the job market. Hillary Clinton wants to drive up corporate taxes, but why on earth would you do that if corporations are already leaving because they are too high? All in all, less government in the economy is better. High taxes don't drive economies, they limit the economy's capability.

Cook, Rebecca (2016, September 15). Ford to move all small-car production to mexico from us: ceo. CNBC. Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/15/ford-to-move-all-small-car-production-to-mexico-from-us-ceo.html

Ethiopia's First Electric Railway

Ethiopia, I landlocked country in Western Africa, now has a new and efficient railway from Addis Ababa, the capitol, to the nearest port, Djibouti, thanks to Chinese investors. Over 70% of the project was funded directly by the Chinese (The Guardian, 2016), so why were they so willing to help with a railway thousands of miles away?

China currently sees Ethiopia as a growing country, in both market size and technology, that has a high demand for Chinese products while some Ethiopian products are in high demand within China. Since Ethiopia is landlocked, before this railway, about 1,500 trucks carrying 90% of Ethiopia's exports and imports traveled a deteriorating highway from Addis Ababa to Djibouti, taking upwards of two days (The Guardian, 2016).

With the new electric railway, this trip now only takes 10 hours while increasing the amount of goods that can be shipped between the two points daily (The Guardian, 2016). The result of this will simply be the increase in trade between China and Ethiopia. Ethiopia isn't the only country China has invested in lately, with plans for a Chinese railway across Brazil and Bolivia currently in the works. I believe we will continue to this this trend by China, with other countries starting to do the same in order to keep up and compete with China's massive economy.

The Guardian (2016, October 5). Next stop the red Sea: Ethiopia opens chinese-built railway to                
       djibouti. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/06/next-stop-the-red-sea-            
       ethiopia-opens-chinese-built-railway-to-djibouti.