The Hill News

News last week that only 18,000 jobs were created in June and that the unemployment rate had risen to 9.2 percent highlighted the fragile state of our economy.  Yet with so many Americans out of work or struggling to get by, the monopoly pricing power of just one industry is artificially inflating the price of staples like food and electricity and putting thousands of jobs at even greater risk.

Tens of thousands of American businesses depend on the freight railroads for reliable and reasonably priced transportation. In 1980, when the freight railroads were struggling, Congress deregulated them where they operate in competitive markets and allowed them to retain exemptions from antitrust laws. Since then the industry has consolidated into a monopoly, with just four major railroads controlling more than 90 percent of freight traffic effectively eliminating competition for all but the most fortunate rail dependent shippers.

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