OK swanny, take out your pencil and takes some notes on the history of the airline you now work for, America West.
Do you know why LAS existed as a hub? Of course not. AWA made money with high utilization (we didn't shut down at 5PM on Saturdays like we do now) and thus we operated late night flights from LAS to the east coast with reduced fares. This worked for the passengers trying to maximize their time at the tables, and it worked for AWA positioning planes in east coast cities for the morning push. Now those east coast cities already have aircraft in position, so a LAS hub isn't necessary.
As for SWA, AWA has battled them in PHX with greater and lesser degrees of success for 28 years. How long did US last when they came to BWI, a week (sp?)?
Right now Parker has the luxury of allowing the east to play their game. When real money gets involved, I think the location of all the risk will become quite clear.