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Hassles of Air Travel Push Passengers to Amtrak

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Amtrak is the moniker for the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. It is a federally sponsored corporation. The federal government owns the preferred stock. The common stock was issued to the private carriers that agreed to contribute their equipment upon start-up of the corporation. They refused a 2002 Amtrak offer to buy back their stock. Language regarding the formation of the corporation can be found in a number of authoritative sources, including the enabling legislation and the corporation's by-laws.  Whether the sponsors intended it to fail appears to be mostly conjecture. Clearly, it was intended to operate as a business. The federal government runs a number of other businesses that most people are unaware of or don't understand how they operate.  The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is in effect an insurance agency designed to insure private pension plans.  It collects premiums from the insured and pays benefits if the insured pension plan goes into default.  Although the intent is for it to recover all of its costs, it currently has an estimated shortfall of $26.3 billion. The federal government also runs the Federal Deposit Insurance, which is a government corporation operating under authority of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933.  The FDIC acts as an insurance company that insures most commercial bank deposits up to stated limits.  It collects premiums from depositors, although most of them don't know it, and covers depositors accounts in case their depository fails. Historically, the FDIC has been managed well. The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 abolished the United States Post Office Department and created the United States Postal Service, a corporation like independent agency with a monopoly on first class mail.  It is expected to cover all of its costs. All of these government functions are expected to operate like a business; i.e. they are expected to re-cover their costs through premiums, fees, etc. It is true that they are not expected to generate a profit for their stakeholders. Amtrak has not generated a profit for its stakeholders; it has not even come close to covering its costs.
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