Laserfiche WebLink
<br />March 25, 1987 <br /> <br />TRS CLAYTON ACT AMENDMENTS LEGISLATION IS PRO-CONSUMER <br />The Clayton Act Amendments of 1987 (H. R. 941 and 5.443), <br />which takes away exemptions from antitrust law now enjoyed by the <br />freight transportation industry (railroads, principally), makes <br />such eminent good sense that the legislation probably would be <br />passed by Congress without a roll call vote, except for one thing: <br />Those who benefit from it by being able to overcharge their <br />customers in monopoly situations -- members of the unified railroad <br />industry -- determinedly oppose it, and the railroad industry is <br />an effective lobbyist. <br />So, it is the railroads, speaking with one voice through the <br />Association of American Railroads (AAR), hanging desperately onto <br />their outmoded and unfair advantage, versus the consumers of the <br />country who speak with many voices but rarely are a unified force. <br />It is the consumers and the "captive shippers" who must use <br />the railroads to supply them with the myriad products vital to <br />the citizens of an industrialized economy: fuel to heat their <br />homes and offices, fuel to generate their electricity, fertilizer <br />and pesticides for the agricultural industry that supplies their <br />food, forest products, minerals, and chemicals. <br />Speaking individually at congressional hearings since 1984, <br />these industries have told of the need for changes in the law <br />that will balance the scales when rail carriers and captive <br />shippers are negotiating freight rates. But others also have <br />