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[quote user="Rail Pundit"] Your - and my - tax dollars routinely go to support the federal-aid highway system and the airport-airway system.  So why do you apply a different standard to passenger trains?  The total subsidy since Amtrak was begun in 1971, now 41+ years - is less than the annual subsidy we provide for highways.  While we're at it, how about detailing the list of government-sponsored activities that operate at a  profit with no taxpayer subsidies.  My copy of the Constitution is silent on the issue of requiring that government must break even or better yet, generate a profit on anything it does.  I don't think you can find anything. [/quote] Profit is a term that applies to investor owned businesses and government sponsored commercial enterprises.   Amtrak is a government sponsored commercial enterprise. It has issued stock (preferred and common), and was formed with the stated intention to covered its costs out of the fare box. It is subject to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), and it is audited annually by an independent auditor. In FY11 it was BDO, which is a high caliber international accounting firm one tier down from the big four. Federal, state, and local governments sponsor a variety of commercial activities. They are governed usually by Government Accepted Accounting Standards (GAAP). At the federal level they are usually audited by the GAO, although not always. At the federal level the government sponsored agencies and/or corporations include amongst many the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Farm Credit Insurance Corporation (FCIC), etc.  These organizations do not produce a profit in the sense that a private enterprise generates a profit and distributes some of it in the form of dividends.  But they are expected to cover their operating expenses through fees, investment income, assessments, etc. so as to maintain a surplus in their general funds.  The FDIC and FCIC have covered their expenses over time as indicated by the surpluses in their general funds. The FDIC had to levy a special assessment during the recession to stay solvent, but it has been able to do so.  In some respects the general fund surplus is analogous to a private commercial activities retained earnings. If they were a private business, they could use the surplus to pay dividends.   The FDIC and FCIC get no direct funding from the federal government. Inasmuch as they operate like insurance companies, their funding comes from premiums, investments, etc.  In the case of the FDIC the premiums are paid by the member banks; in the case of the FCIC they are paid by the state farm credit banks. Actually, in the case of the FDIC, the premiums are paid by the bank's customers. Thus, if you have an account with an FDIC insured institution, you are paying the insurance premium through a slightly reduced interest rate on your deposits or slightly higher transaction fees. The key question is not how much money governments have plowed into Amtrak, highways, airways, waterways, railroads, etc.  The key question is how much per passenger mile, seat mile, vehicle mile traveled, etc.  These are the basis for comparison.  I have tried to make this point too many times to repeat it here.
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