On this week’s episode of Lever Time: After the Southwest Airlines debacle that saw over 2,500 flights canceled and up to a million travelers stranded over the holidays, David Sirotaexplores how the U.S. airline industry became one of the most concentrated and despised industries in the country with the help of William J. McGee, a senior fellow for aviation and travel at the American Economic Liberties Project. William explains to David the history of airline deregulation and the federal preemption that left oversight of the industry solely in the questionable hands of the Secretary of Transportation (10:50).

A rough transcript of this episode is available here.