Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by dfwguy am curious. So many of you are anti-Amtrak but appear to have no problem with the US Govt. bailing out domestic airlines time after time after time. If Delta files soon -do you realize that aprox. 60% of all US carriers will be under control of the courts (bankruptcy) ...Lastly-it's interesting that US Air -the latest to get a govt hand-out is in a battleground state [/quote] I'm not sure any of us have stated or infered in any way that we have "no problem with the US Govt. bailing out domestic airlines". On the contrary, I oppose these bailouts, since the problems of Delta and other carriers are simply that they can't or won't compete with the cut rate carriers like Jet Blue and Southwest. BTW, if any of these carriers go under, it is doubtful the Govt. will be coerced into forming a "national air carrier" aka "AmAir" ir something to that effect. You people need to realize that comparing the subsidies for highways and airports with the Amtrak subsidy is like comparing apples to buggy whips. Amtrak is an operating company, highways and airports are infrastructure. You subsidize infrastructure because ostensibly it is open to anyone who is qualified to operate on it or over it. You do not subsidize operating companies, because to do so is to unfairly aid one operating company over private competitors. If we want to parenthetically "equalize" the playing field among rails, roads, waterways, and airports, there would first have to be some kind of separation of rail infrastructure from rail operating companies, then allow the rail infrastructure it's "fair share" of taxes/user fees/etc to level the playing field, then sit back and see what happens. I'm not sure if there is an objective way to quantify a "fair share" for rail infrastructure in comparison to roads or waterways. Maybe a $0.50 or so per gallon fuel tax on rail operating companies to pay for maintenance and expansion of the rail infrastructure (rather than a ton/mile fee). In other words, if Amtrak's current subsidy went straight to the rail infrastructure owners rather than to Amtrak itself, things would become more equalized and the comparisons of subsidies among roads, airports, and rails would be more apt. That way, it could all be classified as "user fees" and then we'll see if that support for Amtrak over highways and airlines really exists.
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag