Hey guys, think about it a moment before jumping to any conclusions.
The plane moves at a certain speed, relative to the air it is in. When it is in front of the air inlet, the relative speed to the plane gets less. There is only one force that puts the brake on that speed, and that is pressure being built up in front of the engine. That is called the ram effect. Ramjets depend on it to function properly.
The moving propeller does disturb the speed of flow somewhat, but certainly does not nullify it, nor can it prevent the air from entering the opening where it has to slow down.
"nuff said?
Hovering is a different matter.
Because the plane speed is nearly zero, the propwash is needed to provide airflow, and it probably is very benificial to create a low pressure area at the air outlet as well. That prop hub section is not a very good blower, like Dick pointed out allready. Yet, the air near the hub is not stagnant, but moves along with the prop wash at near pitch speed. Thus the situation is not as bad as it seems, or all our engines would fry.