Spirit Is Gone, But We Could Build A People’s Airline In The United States
The Socialist Program with Brian Becker
The Socialist Program
4.7 • 587 Ratings
🗓️ 13 May 2026
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Low-cost Spirit Airlines has gone bankrupt and closed, and the idea of nationalizing the airline has become hugely popular. Professor Richard Wolff and producer Nicole Roussell discuss the mainstream media’s reaction, the feasibility of a nationalized airline, and how it could look and improve workers’ lives.
Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.
Join the The Socialist Program community at http://www.patreon.com/thesocialistprogram to get exclusive content and help keep this show on the air.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Spirit Airlines is gone, but the workers who made it run aren't, and now they're out of a job. |
| 0:07.0 | What would it take to nationalize spirit, or something similar, keep those jobs, and lower fares even more? |
| 0:13.5 | We need a new system. We need a new society. We need to demand that which may have sounded impossible even a few weeks ago, but is not only real class, and the crimes of big business. |
| 0:58.7 | I'm Nicole Roussel. I'm your host today, sitting in for Brian Becker, who is traveling this |
| 1:02.5 | week. The Socialist Program brings you content several days a week, thanks to the support of our |
| 1:06.7 | patrons at patreon.com slash the Socialist Program. We appreciate all of your support and encourage you to |
| 1:12.8 | become a patron today if you enjoy listening to the show. Richard Wolf is the co-founder of the |
| 1:17.7 | organization Democracy at Work and the author of many books, including understanding capitalism, |
| 1:22.4 | which is available at democracy at work.Info. Richard, welcome back. Thank you very much, Nicole. Glad to be here. |
| 1:30.0 | So, spirit has folded. |
| 1:32.3 | This is a blow to families and people everywhere because of the more affordable prices. |
| 1:38.5 | While people online have discussed and organized, you know, and talked about a people's airline, a nationalizing spirit for us. |
| 1:45.5 | I thought you would be interested in how |
| 1:47.7 | neoliberal, the New Yorker, |
| 1:49.3 | ended its recent think piece. |
| 1:51.5 | Quote, so, what is left of the |
| 1:53.7 | ultra-discount airline model that spirit |
| 1:55.6 | pioneered? |
| 1:56.5 | Quote, it will limp along and continue |
| 1:58.5 | to shrink, says Hubert |
| 2:00.1 | Horan, a Phoenix-based independent |
| 2:02.2 | airline consultant. The big carriers will gradually pull back on basic economy, imposing more and more |
... |
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