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[quote user="mdw"]Samantha, your error again is the "free market" deciding. I am a free market person, but a "free" market does not exist is transportation. [/quote]I may be in error.  But errors cut both ways.Whether the federal government chose the winners following WWII is debatable.  An equally strong case can be made that the federal government was responding to the wishes and perceived travel trends of the people.  As one writer points out, people were deserting trains, especially the long distance trains, long before the Interstate Highway System matured or the jet airplane was introduced.Several weeks ago I went to California.  I could have driven, flown, taken Amtrak, or rode a Greyhound.  I chose to fly.  That's exercising market choice.  When I got to California, I took a train to Anaheim.  Then I took a bus/train to San Francisco, and while I was in San Francisco, I took Amtrak to Sacramento and return to visit the California Railroad Museum.  I flew home to Texas.  These were all market choices.  And every time I made a choice, I sent a signal to Southwest Airlines, Amtrak, FAA, DOT, etc., as well as my elected representatives, what I want from the transportation market.  My signal is only important to the extent that millions of others have sent similar signals.   If most of my neighbors choose to fly to California, as opposed to one of the other options, our elected representatives will figure out what options we want, and they will respond accordingly, unless they no longer want to be our elected representatives.  This is one of the reasons why America has invested so heavily in roads and airways. It is not quite as simple as I have outlined.  Part of free markets is to create demand for a product.  Advertising and up front investment can influence choices.  But if the investment decisions are wrong, i.e. invest in rail infrastructure as opposed to airways infrastructure, people in a free society will not sustain it over the long haul.  The free market means that there are winners and losers.  It can be harsh.  I am not surprised that many rail advocates don't like it.  But it is the best way to ration scarce resources in a democratic society.  The alternative is to have a government wonk ram it down your throat ready or not.  Decision points change constantly.  Past investment decisions may not be the best going forward.  But they were the ones that most of the people wanted at the time.
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