Today marks the 40th anniversary of President Jimmy Carter’s signing of the bipartisan Staggers Rail Act into law. It is an anniversary to be recognized, given the short memory Washington can often have about why fundamental shifts in regulatory policy are undertaken in the first place. This landmark legislation quite literally saved the nation’s railroads from near total collapse. Replacing heavy-handed government micro-management with a lighter touch that allowed free markets to evolve was not an easy task, but the results have been well worth the struggle.
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