@kennykb wrote:
Back on the subject of trains. (Much as I would like to discuss Robert Moses, who tore down a big swath of my neighbourhood and then didn't even build the promised road!)
Amtrak is in a total no-win situation with the politicians. If it shows signs of making money, well, of course, it doesn't need us, it should be privatized! And if it needs a subsidy to operate, well you see, it's worthless anyway, it should be shut down!
But highways, and airports, well, we need them, of course we'll subsidize them. Well, at least we'll subsidize big new projects that we can tag with politicians' names. It's OK if our existing bridges fall into the rivers, because they already have the names of dead politicians that nobody cares about any more.