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[quote user="futuremodal"]And what is the "worst" that may come to pass?  That we the taxpayers get to own our own railroad for a change?  And this is bad because..........?[/quote] They would get to own a railroad  who's prospects for running profitably were so poor that it couldn't attract private investment to build it's own plant,.. for one A railroad that even with a gov't loan, STILL  couldn't earn it's own keep (remember, we are assuming failure here because you posed the 'what if?")...for another And, because deferred maintenance is the early refuge of a declining railroad, if such a failure did materialize, my heartfelt suspicion is that the condition of the repossessed plant would  end up being fit for the scrapper only. In a nut shell, if this is such a great deal, then why isn't private money just dying to jump into it?  That is the litmus that I  use to validate my related concerns. Here is why I suspect they (private sources of capital) are not overly enthusiastic. Let's assume that once the plant is rebuilt with the $2.5B, that it ends up being worth $3B.  Just as a given, OK? That still assumes that a buyer could be found with an interest in paying $3B to buy then  operate it. Something just tells me that if DM&E trys their best, and fails.. lets say that the Borg decides to undercut the rate structure and DM&E (in consequence)  never gets traction to build market share...how many buyers would be jumping at the opportunity to stick their head in the same barrel? My guess is very few. Not for the full $3B anyway. So, the value of the repossessed collateral becomes a fraction of the assumed value up front Shrinkage on a massive scale. with Joe Taxpayer holding the bag.
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