Reagan broke up the airline monopoly

[maynard]

If memory serves me right.....didn't Reagan break the monopoly on the phone companies and the airlines? The smaller companies could not compete and therefore people did not have choice/options.

Didn't he also get involved with the airports and fire air traffic controllers? He was the master of government interference.

[YOY]

1. and those larger companies have done so well since!

:sarcasm:

[dems_rightnow]

2. Air traffic controllers

are government employees, so they may not be your best example of interference. But the rest of them are spot on.

[MadMaddie]

15. True they were government employees but what he did

was to destroy experienced employees and replaced them with (for lack of a better term) scabs. Reagan did this country no favors....once he union busted, the workers now work ungodly hours and the stress level is insane. The technology is outdated etc.....

[upi402]

3. Raygun broke up Ma Bell, yes.

Reagan is with Saddam now, however, so I feel alright about that much.

[Demoiselle]

7. Ma Bell was begging to be broken up...

Ma wanted to compete with all the other communication/electronic networks coming into existence.
The law before dereg wouldn't let her do it.
I'm sure those wiser than I on all this can fill in the blanks...but I''m pretty sure I'm right on the basics.

[upi402]

12. My dad worked in management for Ma Bell

He said we'd regret their break up. I sure do. These predators are far worse and not controlled by the fictional free market.

[baldguy]

4. What you're thinking of is deregulation - which isn't the same thing.

Reagan allowed criminals to run the businesses which control our economy.

[kentuck]

11. Exactly!

Thanks for pointing out the difference.

[lumpy]

5. Reagan and his motley crew is to be known as the

"Great Deregulator of Corporate Hogs". His firing of the air traffic controllers caused agreat deal of problems.

[sharesunited]

6. Jimmy Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_Deregulation_Act

The Bell System divestiture was finalized in 1984 as the result of a 1982 consent decree which followed eight years of antitrust litigation commenced by the U.S. Department of Justice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._AT%26T

Reagan fired any air controllers (when they went on strike in 1981) if they did not immediately return to work, and essentially destroyed their union by rendering a majority of its members unemployed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_(1968)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. No, the Airline Deregulation Act was the Carter admin.

And it was a horrible idea.

[gateley]

9. You're right - and I agree. nt

[LanternWaste]

10. Breakup of Bell stems from 1974 Dept. of Justice lawsuit...

AT&T was setup as a regulated monopoly in the mid-thirties during Roosevelt's administration. Reagan however, had little to do with Bell's demise. Bell's breakup resulted from an antitrust lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1974, however it wasn't until 1982 that the court settlement was finally reached.

[spanone]

13. no. he broke the air traffic controllers union

Only a short time into his administration, Federal air traffic controllers went on strike, violating a regulation prohibiting Government unions from striking.<43> Reagan announced that the situation had become an emergency as described in the 1947 Taft Hartley Act, and held a press conference on August 3, 1981 in the White House Rose Garden regarding the strike. Reagan stated that if the air traffic controllers "do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated."<44>
Two days later, on August 5, Reagan fired 11,359 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order to return to work, notwithstanding the fact that the strike was illegal under federal law. The breaking of the strike had a significant impact on labor-management relations in the private sector. Although private employers nominally had the right to permanently replace striking workers under the National Labor Relations Act, that option was rarely used prior to 1981, but much more frequently thereafter. Reagan's actions essentially broke the striking union.<45>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_policy_of_the_Ronald_Reagan_administration

[PhD]

14. Actually airline deregulation happened under Carter

And isn't breaking up monopolies a good thing? It's how the progressive movement began over a 100 years ago!