British Government should tell Virgin Atlatic CEO to do one.

Virgin Atlantic Chairman - a guy called Peter Norris - has asked the "British Government" for a £7.5bn bailout. This is due to the Corona Virus and he says that they will have to lay people off. First and foremost I think most people will be sympathetic to anyone that is affected by this dreadful disease.

Here is my problem with Peter Norris and his request - Virgin Atlantic is a foreign-owned airline. 49% is owned by Delta Airways, Then the second-largest shareholder is Air France with 31%. Then Multi BILLIONAIRE - Richard Branson owns 20%.

So why on earth does this foreign-owned company believe that they and the Airline Industry is owed a bailout from the UK Government? There are a couple of systems to look at here is socialist - where the state owns and runs the companies and then capitalist where private shareholders own the company. The later is whereby the shareholder takes a risk in the business and they buy into a company that will make them money. I have absolutely no problem with free enterprise - this is not quite capitalism. For me the difference between free enterprise and capitalism is capitalism just pure greed buy people just to get richer and damn everyone else. Whereby, for me, free enterprise is where the private business owns and runs the business with the correct regulations. And it allows markets to freely compete, but not at any cost to others.

So here we have Virgin Atlantic which is majority-owned by foreign investors and then take the rich pickings and then when things go tits up they want the rest of us to pick them up and save them? I say no you can't have your cake and eat it! Especially if you are foreign-owned as well. cheeky gits.

Now, Virgin Atlantic has form for this, as they bought Flybe when that was struggling. It could be argued they outmanoeuvred the shareholders and left them with very little when they bought the struggling airline, but then when that too went bust again they thought they would ask the British Government for a bailout. If people want to buy a business they do it on the knowledge they get it right they will be rewarded with dividends etc but if it goes wrong then they lose the lot. If there was a small single shoemaker in a Town in the UK if that went bust the owner wouldn't get a bailout from the Government so why should these rich foreign-owned companies?

Also as part of the argument if the Government bailed out the airlines where does it stop? What about airport staff? What about travel agents? What about hotels? What about tourist attractions? The answer is you can't bail out rich foreign shareholders and leave the people of the country poorer for it. That is not how the free enterprise works - nor should it.

 The harsh reality is if airlines go bust it is because there is no demand for it and when this virus is over then people will want to fly and the companies that are managed in a healthy manner will thrive. I am sure when these days come back - the sooner the better - new airlines will start again. It is a cycle and the shareholders know this and in these bad times, they should stop thinking about themselves but understand that most people will be affected in some ways.