Friday Funny: ‘Deregulation Works’

A tongue-in-cheek piece from The Onion calls the disastrous train derailment in Ohio a “deregulation success story.”

1 minute read

February 17, 2023, 7:00 AM PST

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Addressing the very serious impact of a train derailment that continues to leak hazardous chemicals into Ohio’s air and soil, satirical publication The Onion points out the hypocrisy behind deregulation policies that have led to outdated infrastructure and equipment and are now putting thousands of American lives at risk.

Poking fun at Republican Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, The Onion imagines him as saying,

So rarely do we get to see such immediate change as a result of dismantling rigorous safeguards and doing away with accountability, but look at this—just yesterday this was an abandoned rural prairie full of nothing but native wildlife. Now, through a bipartisan effort to completely ignore calls to replace the Civil War-era braking systems on most of our great nation’s trains, we transformed this area seemingly overnight.

Thursday, February 16, 2023 in The Onion

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