David, if he does not do it on his own, you should prompt Doug Henwood to
answer your question regarding the increasing use of the airlines.
Liberals and conservatives often come together in matters of deregulation
-- mostly on the grounds that the free market can eliminate some kind of
problem. Tim's recent post on California water is a case in point. Many
liberals and environmentalists believe that pricing water can elminate
waste.
On Thu, May 10, 2001 at 10:22:33AM -0700, David Shemano wrote:
> Mr. Proyect --
>
> Your post brought back wonderful memories of a paper I wrote as a freshman
> in college entitled "The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978." As a right-wing
> ideologue who had read Mancur Olson and other public choice theorists, I
> wanted to understand how in the world it came to pass that for the first
> time since the passage of the New Deal regulatory legislation, a major
> industry was deregulated. (Several years later I wrote a paper on the
> repeal of the Corn Laws in England for similar reasons).
>
> In any event, rereading my paper causes me to ask the following questions,
> make the following comment, and provide the following tidbit:
>
> 1. Why, with the exception of United Airlines, did every major interstate
> airline testify against deregulation? And how come the legislation passed
> notwithstanding their opposition?
>
> 2. With respect to your criticisms of the present industry, nowhere do you
> point out that while the demand for air service has dramatically increased
> since deregulation, the supply or airports has not been increased to meet
> the demand (and airports are publicly controlled and owned entities in the
> United States).
>
> 2. The following were the members of the "Ad Hoc Committee for Airline
> Regulation Reform":
>
> a. American Conservative Union
> b. American Consumer Action Project
> c. American Retail Federation
> d. Americans for Democratic Action
> e. Common Cause
> f. Cooperative League of the U.S.A.
> g. DHL Corporation
> h. Ford Marketing Institute
> i. Libertarian Alliance
> j. National Association of Counties
> k. National Association of State Aviation Officials
> l. National Consumer Congress
> m. National Retail Merchants Association
> n. National Retired Teachers
> o. National Student Lobby
> p. National Taxpayer's Union
> q. Public Interest Economics Center
> r. Ralph Nader's Congress Watch
> s. Sears & Roebuck Co.
> t. Western Traffic Conference
>
>
> David Shemano
>
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
