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[quote user="joe-daddy"][quote user="oltmannd"] [/quote]Denver International Airport cost tax payers over 6 Billion, and there is a similar airport purchased on the public dole in every wide place in the country.  Spend a third of that money on a true high speed rail infrastructure, like NY - Chicago - LA and things start looking up for rail.   Today, Acela NYC to Wash DC, 2.5 hrs, 160 bucks , smooth, comfortable, pleasant.  Airlines same price at least twice the time or more.  Acela is ~100 mph?I travel a lot by air and you cannot go anywhere  in less than 4 hours portal to portal. Add an hour for every 500 miles.  NO tarmac waits included here.  Even at 200 mph trains heavily erode the airplane.[/quote]The construction of Denver International Airport did not cost the taxpayers $6 billion.  The only cost to the national taxpayer would be the revenue difference between tax free bonds and fully taxable bonds generated by the bondholders and paid to the U.S. Treasury.  If the bonds were general obligation bonds, as opposed to the more common revenue bonds that are issued to build airports, the local taxpayers could get stuck with some or all of principal outstanding in the case of a default.  The probability of such an event is extremely rare.  Last year, for example, less than one quarter of one per cent of the municipal bonds outstanding were defaulted on.     If the airport board had issued $6 billion of fully taxable bonds, at the U.S. Treasury long bond rate, which today would be 4.375 per cent, the interest cost would have been $262.5 million per year.  Issuing tax free or municipal bonds, in the same environment (the average rate would be about 3.8 per cent) would have attracted an interest charge of $228 million or a difference of $34.5 million.  The difference could result in a reduction in U.S. Treasury revenues, but the exact amount would depend on the marginal tax rates of the investors.  If all of the bond holders were in the 35 per cent marginal tax rate, the annual loss of revenue to the U.S. Treasury would be $12.1 million a year.  The loss in revenue to the national treasury would be offset in part by a reduction in the business expenses of the users and occupants of the airport.  Interest is a cost of business that is passed on to the users.  Because the airport was constructed with tax free bonds, the airlines pay lower landing fees and the vendors pay lower rentals.  This results in greater taxable income than would otherwise be the case.  And the greater taxable income means more tax revenues for the national treasury.  The caveat would be if an airline using Denver International Airport is losing money and, therefore, does not have any taxable income.  At the end of the day, the loss to the national treasury is minuscule, especially when one considers the size of the U.S. budget.    The bonds are serviced (interest and principal) with revenues generated by the airport, e.g. landing fees, vendor rentals, hangar fees, etc.  The airport‘s revenues, costs, expenditures, expenses, etc. are captured in an enterprise fund as opposed to the general fund.  In other words, it is run like a business, with the citizens of Denver and its surrounds being the stockholders.  The liability for the taxpayers, as well as the bondholders, is the potential failure of the airport to cover its operating and capital expenditures.  In this case, if the airport board or authority defaulted on the bonds, the general taxpayer would be liable for the interest and principal on the bonds, or at least this is how the bond debentures state the liability in most situations.    The one way shuttle airfare from LaGuardia to Washington, D.C., is as low as $81.  The flying time is 1 hour and 39 minutes.  If one adds an hour to clear security at LaGuardia, the total time portal to portal is approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes.  If one lives in Manhattan or Brooklyn, as I did for years, and is going to central D.C., Amtrak is a better deal.  But if one lives on Long Island and is going to one of the Virginia or Maryland suburbs, the airplane is a better deal.  It is an even better deal if one opts for BWI or Dulles.  Last week I flew from Austin to Dallas.  I cleared security in less than 10 minutes.  The wheels up to touch down time was 34 minutes.  The cost was $103.50 return.  It is 196 highway miles from Austin to Dallas.  The flying distance is somewhat shorter.Trains can be viable in relatively short, high density corridors, providing the traveler is going from center city to center city.  But in Texas, as an example, most travelers are going from one outlying area to another outlying area.  This is the major challenge to those of us who would like to see more passenger rail options in Texas.
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