Resuscitating Aero
The state is preparing to spend Kè 9bn (E277m) to save
2,000 jobs at Aero Vodochody, or Kè 4.5m (E138,000)
per job. Respekt gives a figure of Kè 7.5m per job and
says it would have been cheaper to keep these people
at home on full wages than to bring Boeing in to save
the aircraft maker in 1998. The state had trouble giving
Aero away then and had to agree to terms that are now
coming back to haunt it. Industry Minister Milan Urban
blames the mess on ex-Industry Minister Karel Kühnl,
and Kühnl blames it on Boeing for not keeping its
promises. Kühnl admitted that the cabinet was
desperate to find a way to keep Aero afloat. The choice
then was the same as the one today, he told Právo.
With elections coming, the decision is understandable.
The CR's comparative advantage, one reader joked, is
that it knows how to keep dead companies alive longer
than anyone else.
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