OK - so I am few days late in reacting to this:
CNN.com - Bush plan to eliminate Amtrak subsidy faces fight - Feb 9, 2005
The challenge (for me) when assessing proposals made by politicians is to decide among five alternatives:
- They are right -- the proposal is good public policy (meaning -- I agree with it)
- They are stupid, and do not understand the issues
- They are evil, and have a personal profit motive (e.g. meeting their campaign contributors needs)
- They have a different view of "right" and "wrong" than I. This could be based on religion, or some other moral basis. Reasonable people can differ regarding such issues.
- I am stupid, and do not understand the issue.
In the case of Amtrak, the proposal is clearly wrong. The federal government subsidizes Amtrak's competition (personal automobiles) by maintaining the US Interstate system. Without the Interstate road system, trains would be packed.
It is bad public policy to subsidize the less efficient of competing alternatives. It may even be bad policy to subsidize any private endeavor, but that is another question.
So, the administration is either paying back political contributions, does not understand the issue, or believes it is morally wrong to ride trains. You decide -- I don't know.
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2 comments:
One person's efficiency is another's waste. An 8 hour train trip that takes less than four to drive for a lot of people is inefficient. A train trip that costs as much or more than a plane trip to some is inefficient. On the other hand, 100 cars versus 1 train is inefficient to some people. While I have my personal opinions, I'm not sure how to tell you or anyone else that my idea of efficiency is correct and yours is not. On the level of you and me, I think this is a case where reasonable people can disagree. On a government level, I don't know the answer.
The efficiency varies by route, I guess.
Boston-New York by Amtrak is 3.5-4 hours, about the same by car, with luck. Train is way more stress-free - and I could work on the train.
Boston-Chicago by Amtrak leaves Boston at 11:45am, arrives Chicago 8:43am next day, after a not bad meal and a few drinks. I could not do that by car ;-)
Airplanes are faster, of course, depending on distance.
As you say, reasonable people can differ at the personal level. At the government level, the subsidies almost all go to road traffic (until the coming Great Airline Bailout). I wish those that govern would look at their subsidies as a whole, rather than piecemeal.
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