The House of Representatives is working on a $25B bailout for an airline industry that has allowed wall street and airline executives to impoverish their companies by skimming profits off into stock buybacks and dividends, leaving the American public to foot the bill.

Background Reading:

Pelosi says airline deal worth $25B imminent.

https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-usa-airlines-idUSKBN26O05L

$8.6B in baggage fees

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2020/05/04/us-airline-fees-8-billion-bag-ticket-change-fees-2019/3076655001/

Buybacks:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/aalsin/2020/04/24/stock-buybacks-made-corporations-vulnerable-then-the-coronavirus-struck/

96% of free cash flow on buybacks:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-16/u-s-airlines-spent-96-of-free-cash-flow-on-buybacks-chart

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/mar/18/america-airlines-bailout-shareholders-coronavirus

seven out of every eight dollars the four airlines sent Wall Street from 2015 through 2019--$39.1 billion out of $44.7 billion — went for share buybacks. The rest went for dividends

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/06/bailout-coronavirus-airlines/

Stock buybacks have been legal since 1982

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/22/17144870/stock-buybacks-republican-tax-cuts