https://www.npr.org/2016/07/07/484941939/a-portrait-of-ameri...
Quote from NPR "Since economists first began keeping track in 1970, every decade has ended with fewer people in the middle class than at the start. And 2015 was the first year on record when Americans in the middle-income bracket did not make up the majority of the country"
Middle class can afford it now you say and yet the middle class is shrinking and the poor class is growing. Are you ignoring the inequality and shrinking of the middle class when you make such a statement?
> deregulation and consolidation
If there were many air lines and now they are consolidated to fewer is this not anti competition? Or is the market going to fix it by less regulation?
Here's the graph from the 1970s to 2010s: http://psf_blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/201...
Do you believe in the concept of natural monopoly Ihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_monopoly)? If so what's your solution to that?
edit/update:
Something in the back of my mind was skeptical about your claim of airflight being cheaper without source. It seems more like you're making a statement base on feeling.
I googled:
Note here's one article that stated that it went up on average by a bit adjusting for inflation:
http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/airlines-airport...
Another article argued that the statistics ignore the outlandish carry baggage checkin that in fact it is more costly today to fly than it is in the 70s.
https://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/blog/seat2B/2014/05/...