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[quote user="CMStPnP"] [quote user="Sam1"] I favor a private solution for all commercial passenger transportation. The government should not be involved in it. The federal government does not operate any airlines, intercity bus companies, barge lines, cruise ship lines, etc. I have never seen any economic justification for having the government sponsor Amtrak.[/quote] And yet if I have a private plane and I land at a commercial airport I pay more in taxes and fees than a commercial Airline does on a commercial plane.   We've been over the subsidy methodologies before between the various modes.    You'll find the Commercial Airlines enjoy a lot of subsidies, some of them hidden quite well. [quote user="Sam1"] Initially promoters of DART said that the light rail system would be built without any federal money. Wrong! Did not work out that way. They have gotten billions of federal money to complete the system. [/quote] I don't remember that promise and at any rate the last $1+ Billion grant was from the Feds at the initiation of President Bush who decided to live in Dallas, so I am not sure that was planned from the beginning.    I don't know how they could get inside the mans head and plan that. [quote user="Sam1"] Whether the Dallas to Houston HSR can be built without any federal money is to be learned. To date the promoters have not released any proforma financial plans. If federal and state money is required, which is a possibility, Fort Worth, Arlington, and College Station will likely have a say in the outcomes, because the financing will be politicized, and once that happens all initial bets will be off.   [/quote] Every transportation system in this country is built with Federal or State Money at some point.    Wisconsin & Southern case in point.     Guess who started that railroad?     A state highway contractor that knew he could shake down the state for money because he did it numerous times before with highways.   He also knew he didn't really have to make a business case for the money he had the ability to persuade the state to spend money on just about anything he proposed. [quote user="Sam1"] JCR and SNCF claim at least one of their high speed lines is profitable.  What they fail to mention is that they built their high speed rail systems with massive taxpayer supplied monies. Then, after the taxpayers had eaten most of the up front depreciation, they spun off the infrastructure at a substantially depreciated book value, which enabled the infrastructure operator to charge JCR and SNCF market rents that enable them to show a profit on their lines.   I don't have a problem with an equipment manufacturer promoting a system that will help it sell its stuff, as long as the outcome does not become a burden on the taxpayers. [/quote] Well it is yet to be proven you know what your doing with your financial analysis.   Since your expressing an opinion thats fine and the detail really isn't necessary (I know I rarely read it all)  but you shouldn't equate polite silence with acceptance of your financial analysis. [quote user="Sam1"] Until the promoters of the Texas HSR show the public audited proforma financial statements, I am a skeptic. Moreover, as noted, my biggest concern is a better outcome could be generated for more Texans by upgrading passenger rail service along the I-35 corridor.  [/quote] As a private company it is completely their option if they decide to do that.    However, as a private company that would also be competitive suicide to an extent to do that if they are entering a new field without competitors and I am not sure their Bank backers would like that.     Further, pro-forma financial statements in a lot of cases do not have the detail to do a proper financial analysis of a company.      If you think they do, you obviously have never tried to purchase an existing company with ongoing operations using just pro forma statements (it's very dangerous and your the first accountant I have ever heard that would rely on those to figure out if a company is profitable........most people use the audited statements).    At any rate, I would rather read an accountant's review that is getting PAID for the review that is standing behind their analysis via their stamp of approval then someone doing it as a hobby. I just tried to buy a Dallas based company and they sent me their pro-forma financial statements, I did my two times cash flow plus fixed asset value formula to see if the purchase price was close.    It wasn't.  I asked for the audited financial statements along with his CASH account bank statements ans guess what?   This company was maintaining two sets of books, one for the IRS and one for a potential purchaser.     He had been in business for 20 years, never been audited.     The giveway was labor was accounted for on the seller books but not the IRS books.......he was paying his employees under the table and without 1099's more than likely.      Anyways, again......bad to use pro forma statements for a financial analysis.    That was in one of my first level college accounting courses as well.     Always use the fully stated audited statements. [/quote] Proforma financials are what an entity expects to achieve or what it would have realized if circumstances had changed. They should be audited by an outside auditor, i.e. Deloitte & Touche, PWC, KPMG, etc.  Who said anything about having the financial statements prepared by someone who does it as a hobby? How do you know what M&A activities I was or was not involved with?  In fact I was involved heavily in the acquisition of a Fortune 500 firm by the Fortune 250 company that I worked for.  I was even more involved in the acquisition of an Australian company. In all three cases I worked with first class consultants (McKinsey, Booze...., Planmetrics, Hewitt & Associates, etc.) and accountants (Deloitte, PWC). You don't provide any hard data to support your views, i.e. subsidies for commercial airlines, etc. Are you a pilot? What are the landing fees at Love Field for the commercial carriers, private pilots, etc.?  What are the landing fees at Addison Airport? The supporters of the Texas HSR have not presented any detailed financial projections.  Ultimately, if they hope to be sell public debt or equity to raise the capital to build the system, they will need to present audited financial plans to the SEC as well as state regulators.  It is unlikely, as the sponsors of the California HSR project have learned, that they will be able to raised all the required capital in the private equity or debt market.  Again, why to you feel compelled to belittle people with whom you disagree?  Why can't you just state an opposing point of view without denigrating the people who hold opposing points of view?  Ever hear of the notion of disagreeing agreeably?
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