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oltmannd, Try this: Take the three valid points you made, and parse them between the rates RR's charge for imported goods and those charged for exported goods (leaving out domestic goods for the moment). What we have is the RR's charging much higher rates to captive U.S. shippers, and using those profits to effectively subsidize the importation of goods from overseas. What is happening is just as you laid out, except that instead of the "industry moving out", we the taxpayers are keeping these domestic industries alive via subsidies, et al. Look at farm subsidies, and ask yourself the following: If the roles were reversed and we had the RR's charging domestic producers the cutthroat rates while charging importers the captive rates, would we even need to subsidize our farmers? The farm bill is nothing more than an indirect subsidy of the railroads, in that it keeps those farmers alive enough to keep producing the crops that the railroads need to haul (at exorbinate rates) to pay for the upkeep of the import corridors. Same goes for the new energy bill, as it aids in the development of coal which is probably the leading lifeline for the railroads. Now try this hypothesis: Take away the farm subsidies, take away the energy industry subsidies, take away the steel tariffs, take away the pension bailouts, et al, and what do you think will happen to the railroads? How will they be able to raise import rates in the face of open competition at nearly every import facility, now that the bulk of their revenue sources have dried up? Our domestic producers have enough trouble competing with protectionism of other countries, obscene environmental regulations, overzealous SEC oversight, etc. The one thing that can be done is to give them a break on the domestic transportation side. If the skewed transportation market wasn't that much of an impact on the future prospects of domestic producers, they probably wouldn't have bothered to form a coalition to address these inequities in the first place. Yes, transportation rate gouging is a big issue!
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