“(CNN) -- Alfred Kahn, an economist who became known as the "architect of deregulation" under the Carter administration, has died of cancer. He was 93.
It is widely accepted that Kahn's efforts dismantled air travel as the domain of the elite and paved the way for low-cost airlines.
He died at his home in Ithaca, New York, on Monday, according to a statement from Cornell University where he was a professor emeritus of political economy.
Kahn spearheaded the U.S. Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 when he chaired the now-defunct Civil Aeronautics Board.
At the time, a coast-to-coast ticket cost an exorbitant sum of money and no new airlines were taking flight…”
If you read the CNN story it sounds like he was a hero. It sounds like deregulation was good. I was not a fan of the deregulation of the airlines. There might have been problems that needed to be fixed but to just let the airlines do what they wanted to do without government rules and over sight I did not think was a good idea.
How many of the airlines then (1978) went out of business? How much were pilots and others paid at that time and how much are they paid now. What happened to good union jobs?
Plus if you read the CNN story it sounds like the common man could not fly because it cost to much money. That was not true. Sure now you can get some good deals for flying. But you are flying on an aircraft that has a pilot that is over worked and under paid and the aircraft was inspected by a non-airline contract place by people that do not work for the airline and are not union members and are not paid well etc.
I am not sure that Alfred Kahn did a good thing.
I could be wrong. But how has “deregulation” gone for the United States?
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