{"id":63811,"date":"2026-05-05T10:18:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T14:18:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/?p=63811"},"modified":"2026-05-05T10:18:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T14:18:51","slug":"policies-have-consequences-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/?p=63811","title":{"rendered":"Policies Have Consequences"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Monday, Issues & Insights<\/a> posted an article about the end of Spirit Airlines. We need to give credit where credit is due. The credit for the bankruptcy of Spirit Airlines goes to then Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Senator Elizabeth Warren.<\/p>\n

The article reports:<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s a lesson to be learned from the collapse of Spirit Airlines, it is that today\u2019s Democratic Party should never be in charge of anything.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Does that seem like a stretch? Not when you consider the facts.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Four years ago, Spirit and JetBlue started talking about merging operations. Spirit was struggling to stay afloat, thanks in part to the massive run-up in inflation under President Joe Biden. The merger would have been a lifeline to Spirit and would have ensured low-cost competition survived.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But Democrats \u2014 led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren \u2014 decided that they knew better. Warren pressured then Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the Biden administration to stop it, \u201cexpressing serious concerns about the proposed merger between JetBlue and Spirit Airlines.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

She bragged in early 2024 that she \u201chas led the fight to ensure antitrust laws are enforced across the economy to prevent mergers that will reduce competition, jeopardize fair markets, and harm consumers.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Her leadership paid off. Biden\u2019s Transportation and Justice Departments teamed up to block the merger \u2014 claiming it would cost travelers $1 billion a year. Then a district judge in Boston sided with Biden.<\/strong><\/p>\n

All of them claimed the same thing. That they were doing this on behalf of air travelers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Buttigieg said in 2023<\/a> that \u201cit\u2019s important to make sure that passengers have choices\u201d and that they \u201chave access to low fares.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the companies dropped the merger plans in the face of these assaults, Warren cheered, calling it \u201ca Biden win for flyers.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

A win? Tell that to the 17,000 employees who just lost their jobs<\/a>, the travelers who have paid for Spirit flights they\u2019ll never take, and those families faced with a huge spike in travel costs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The article notes:<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, these same Democrats are trying to pin the blame for Spirit\u2019s collapse on President Donald Trump, saying, as Warren put it, \u201cspiking fuel prices from Trump\u2019s war was the nail in the coffin for twice-bankrupted Spirit airline.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

But that\u2019s a lie. Anyone not blinded by leftist ideology could see at the time<\/em> that killing the merger was the nail in Spirit\u2019s coffin.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the Heritage Foundation\u2019s EJ Antoni <\/a>put it back in March 2024:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Without the merger, Spirit is all but condemned to death, and investors know it, selling off the company\u2019s stock, which hit a record low after the plug was pulled on consolidating with JetBlue. The ratings agency Fitch downgraded Spirit\u2019s credit rating, citing default as a real possibility, meaning the airline may soon be unable to pay its bills.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With operational losses, over $1 billion in bonds coming due soon, and the evaporation of available equity from the stock plummeting, Spirit\u2019s collapse seems like a fait accompli.<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Besides, even if we disagreed with his plan, Trump at least tried to find a way to keep Spirit afloat.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

This can, however, be a clarifying moment for voters before the midterms \u2014 if Republicans are smart enough to seize it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Voters, take note!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Monday, Issues & Insights posted an article about the end of Spirit Airlines. We need to give credit where credit is due. The credit for the bankruptcy of Spirit Airlines goes to then Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Senator … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[13417,12212,10519,8369,19472,19473],"class_list":["post-63811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-biden-administration","tag-issues-insights","tag-jetblue","tag-senator-elizabeth-warren","tag-spirit-airlines","tag-transportation-secretary-pete-buttigieg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63811"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63826,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63811\/revisions\/63826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}