 GrumpyPremium
join:2001-07-28
NW CT
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1 edit | reply to Marilla
Re: -sigh- [Insert sarcasm] Geez, price deregulation never hurt the airline industry, did it? Flying on an airliner operated by a carrier in the red is good for the consumer, right? EVERY airline carrier in the US (except for two) was operating at a loss in the boom days of 2001, 20 plus years after deregulation. The rates were regulated many years ago to prevent this, but I guess congress figured human nature had changed when they decided to deregulate. Here's another exciting deregulation fact - that big tractor trailer load of gasoline or propane behind you on the interstate? His industry profit average is 1.89% since deregulation. His company is one the the lucky few of the thousands that has not yet filed for bankruptcy. Happy motoring! |
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 LegoPower77AbecedarianPremium
join:2002-08-03
Midlothian, VA | Yes, yes, assuming all those things you say are correct (and I trust you) the reason the airlines were operating at a loss and the tractor-trailer industry has such a measly profit (I thought profits were eeevil?) is because deregulation generally increases competition and when that happens, windfall goes away and the prices are cheaper for the consumer. Are you suggesting that congress should make a law re-regulating the shipping industry higher profits and making consumers pay a higher price? Why not just pass a law that every citizen has to give a trucker a quarter—they'd be rich then. (Whoops, the rich are eeevil too  ).
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"You cannot separate fools from their foolishness, even though you grind them like grain with mortar and pestle" (Proverbs 27:22). |
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 calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA | ...and it's one heck of a lot cheaper to fly now than it was in the 1970's, taking inflation into account. That's largely due to the cost cutting inspired by competition from discount airlines.
Airline deregulation has been an unquestionably good thing, unless you were/are an airline monopolist or someone with an unlimited travel budget.
Yeah, we can all pine for the "good ol' days", but we need to remember that airline travel in the '70's was so expensive that only businessmen and the rich flew much. Cheap family travel by air just didn't happen.
Calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
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