Birthplace of aviation?

A week or so ago the New York Times ran an article about foreign airlines increased introduction of economy plus, a hybrid between business and economy class. For almost a decade airlines like Virgin Atlantic have been offering this service, which includes many of the amenities of business class without the soul crushing price. Like the super budget airlines used by European travelers for so long and only recently introduced through the Southwests and JetBlues, U.S. airlines are late in the game when it comes to economy plus or anything really innovative. How could it be that in the birthplace of aviation, we get out hustled, out innovated, out maneuvered at every turn.

I have a theory on what's going on. As a result of deregulation and the public trading of airlines, the only concern airlines have had over the last 20-30 years has been profit margins, quarter by quarter, year by year. Let's just look at what this mentality has done for the industry: old planes, terrible service, bankrupt airlines, safety concerns, little to no innovation, and interestingly enough, very low stock prices and terrible profits. These problems have all come post-deregulation and to deny the connection and wrap ourselves in the cloak of deregulation and unbridled free market innovation, not only denies reality, but will allow competitors across the world to continue to surpass the U.S. airline industry by every conceivable benchmark.