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| Re: NY congressman Higgins writes Amtrak's Moorman in support of reopening Buffalo Central Terminal (1430815) | |||
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Re: NY congressman Higgins writes Amtrak's Moorman in support of reopening Buffalo Central Terminal |
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Posted by Nilet on Tue Mar 21 20:07:57 2017, in response to Re: NY congressman Higgins writes Amtrak's Moorman in support of reopening Buffalo Central Terminal, posted by Joe V on Tue Mar 21 19:43:12 2017. Congress did NOT give railroads subsidies in 1945. That is when Congress determined their land grants to have been paid off. You refuse to grasp that has happened.Except the land grants weren't a loan that could be paid off. OK, time for another basic lesson in remedial economics. Suppose I want money to start up a business. You offer me $50,000 in exchange for 10% of my future profits. I accept your terms. I use your $50,000 to start up a business and in my first year, I make a whopping $10 million in profits. I write you a check for $250,000— five times what you paid me. Have I paid off the loan? No. Of course not. Because the terms of our arrangement is that you get 10% of my profits— I owe you $1 million for the first year and 10% of all future profits. If you decide to accept my $250,000 payment and forfeit both the remaining $750,000 and your right to collect 10% of my future profits, then that's your prerogative. However, if you do that, then you have given me something for nothing. That is, a gift (or a subsidy). You can say: "I've received five times my original investment, so I feel your debt to me has been paid," but you're still giving me something for nothing. That is, a gift (aka, a subsidy). In 1945, Congress gave the railroads something for nothing by forfeiting their right to preferential rates. That's a subsidy. Since government sponsored auto and airplane travel pushed passenger rail out of existence Seriously? Auto travel is 100% privately funded unless you want to count the roads themselves, and roads are one of the most basic functions every government is expected to provide by default. Claiming that government-funded road are unfair to to the railroad industry is like claiming water treatment plants are unfair to the bottled water industry or restrictions on air pollution are unfair to the gas mask industry. As for airlines, I've already explained repeatedly why they're not subsidised. Airlines recieve subsidies in the form of FREE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL. "Free" in the sense of "paid for by air passengers." That's not free by any stretch of the imagination. |
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