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[quote user="YoHo1975"] I'm asking you to present your argument.  I've presented mine and mine is that the HSR subsidy stands on its own merits. I'm asking you Why doesn't it? And why does this other subsidy?     I'm asking you a question and you aren't answering.  Why does HSR not justify a subsidy? Why do government funded roads deserve a subsidy?  Offer some nuance please.  <div style="clear:both;"></div> [/quote]   Okay, you say that HSR should be subsidized only because it stands on its merits.  Given that position, I fail to see why you are asking me to justify highway subsidies.  What do highway subsidies have to do with HSR subsidies? <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> But to address your question about why I oppose HSR subsidies, but not highway subsidies: <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> I am not sure how the term subsidy applies to highways.  Highway usage is very widespread throughout society.  So is highway usage.  Therefore, the cost of highways is mostly borne by the users.  Is that a subsidy?  It does not really seem like it is.  It is true that the funds come from the government, but the government gets the funds mostly from the highway users.  So the users pay for the highways.  Where is the subsidy? <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> With HSR, everybody will pay the cost, but only a tiny fraction of those payers will ever find a use for the HSR that they are paying for.  So the relatively few users of HSR will be subsidized by a much larger number of people who will not use HSR because they will have no need for it.<o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">So, by using a very lose definition of subsidy, you can say that both highways and HSR are subsidized.  But the details of the subsidy in each case are so dissimilar that is it truly comparing apples to oranges.  Even if the total costs for HSR were exactly equal to the total costs for highways, there would still be a vastly greater subsidy for HSR because the user pool is so small compared to the payer pool.
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