ARTICLE: "Amid Turmoil, U.S. Turns Away From Decades of Deregulation," by Bob Davis, Damian Paletta and Rebecca Smith, Wall Street Journal, 25 July 2008, p. A1.
A lot of political scientists see a roughly three-decade period of progressive deregulation starting with Reagan. Most now also see that era coming to an end.
Makes sense to me in a global sense: decades to open things up and encourage connectivity, but now you have the high-trust-environment West trying to further integrate/train-up the lower-trust-environment of all those rising New Core pillars, who themselves provide a growing link to much of the Gap through their rising resource requirements. Upshot being the Old Core West "suddenly" feels itself uncomfortably connected to all sorts of Deadwoods and Badlands, question being, how do we clean-up this suddenly crummy system?
Hmm. Feels like a column.
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Comments (5)
Or new regulation will just strangle the economy.
I recommend reading 'The Box', the story of the basic shipping container and how it changed the global economy. The early chapters give a great picture of how shipping worked before the container came into being....a highly regulated environment both domestically and internationally. Made international trade a long, hard and expensive process.
Benefited the few at the expense of the many. That's what you get when the powers that be decide to regulate your business.
Posted by outback71![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.thomaspmbarnett.com/weblog/nav-commenters.gif)
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August 6, 2008 8:28 AM
Why should either of you be wrong? ANY area of government regulation is subject to being overdone, underdone or just plain poorly done. If life was any other way, we'd have ourselves a Socialist or Libertarian paradise on Earth by know:P
Posted by Michael![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.thomaspmbarnett.com/weblog/nav-commenters.gif)
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August 6, 2008 4:59 PM
The airlines were deregulated in 1979. However, the only thing that was deregulated was where the airlines could fly and how much they could charge. They are still regulated as to maintenance and training standards, use of the airways, and use of the airports.
I think most would say that the price of flying has gone down, but the service and convenience have also gone down.
Now jet fuel prices are threatening to sink the industry even deeper into debt. Some major airlines may fail. It is an industry in extremis and maybe re-regulation is in order.
There must be a way to return to a model that provides stability, decent service, and a reasonable profit at prices which passengers can afford. The old regulated airline model provided safety, stability, and a profit but not at competitive prices. Quite a problem, but one that probably isn't too far off. If a major like Delta or United quit flying it would be a huge hassle for travelers.
Posted by Jimmy J. | August 6, 2008 11:01 PM
Just open the US sky to foreign airlines and let them merge out the US companies. After all we are in favor of globalization are we not?Those flying many foreign airlines say better service all around. Of course I am excluding sub-saharan Africa and other places with no air traffic control and VFR only.
Posted by William R. Cumming. | August 7, 2008 7:27 AM
Yet Southwest Airlines continues to make money even in this environment and they are a hell of a lot more pleasant experience than Delta, which after my last few flights with them, I will never fly again if there is any alternative.
Why can some companies make money and provide good service while others are unable to do this?
Posted by Mark in Texas | August 8, 2008 8:36 PM