Blame Jimmy Carter for all the airline bankruptcies. Or better yet, thank him.

My latest column is all about airline bankruptcies – why they’re so common (over 180 in the past 20 years!) – and why deregulation in the late seventies spearheaded by Jimmy Carter and Ted Kennedy is to blame. But rather than blaming the deregulators, we ought to be thanking them. What’s been terrible for industry stakeholders has been great for travelers.