RIP Alfred Kahn

Alfred Kahn, the man most strongly associated with airline deregulation in the US, has died.

I suspect that he and I would agree on the horrors of government-supported monopolies. Indeed, the high-cost to consumers of a system that guaranteed airlines profits (12 percent, to be exact) despite inefficiency was one of Kahn's motivations.

Where I suspect Kahn and I differ, is in the amount of whether we put faith in the market.

I look at the airline example, and think it'd be possible to lower ticket prices if airline profits were zero percent, even if we were just as inefficient. Moreover, it could be more efficient to just have the one government-run airline. More people could afford to fly, and the people who worked for the airline could continue to afford to feed themselves.

Anyhow, socialism (and social democracy, for that matter), is even less in vogue than usual these days, so I suppose starting that discussion isn't going to make me particularly popular in most quarters.

What I did want to point out (which, I, being born in 1978 and educated in the US wasn't aware of), is that airline deregulation happened on the watch of Jimmy Carter and with help from politicians to his left (including Ted Kennedy and Ralph Nader).

This isn't to say that Republicans haven't championed deregulation. As far as I'm concerned, they continue to make the Democrats look like rank amateurs. (IMO, they've got a habit of doing that.) However, when it comes to believing in government's ability to provide essential services (not merely air travel, but things like electricity, water, telecommunication services) for the citizenry in an affordable and efficient manner, I don't think it's safe to assume that many Democrats have been on board, past or present.

The prequel to George W. Bush's first term didn't work out too well, either.
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Can you imagine if the blogosphere existed during the Carter administration? That's just scary.