Let’s get real. No airline has made money since the advent of deregulation…so there is no way in hell that the passenger rail system is going to support itself. Ain’t gonna happen.

If Amtrak’s decisions (and I believe they are legally bound to try to make a profit) are based on “market forces,” then we all lose. Of course, transportation policy in the U.S. is about as well thought out as the energy policy is…. And as I’ve pointed out here before, everyone talks about “not subsidizing trains,” when, in reality, we spend billions subsidizing highways each year…....

If the current oil crisis doesn’t wake up a few people in Congress to the advantages of passenger rail (local and long haul) then we might as well give up. Having ridden around Europe on high-speed trains, I can personally vouch for what a joy it is. And the money to do this is there; how many billions have we spent in Iraq? What if all that money (which is technically, “off the books”) had been plowed into brand new rails and rolling stock…

The first person in Congress who brings this to the floor will be my hero. I’d also like to hear it from Obama…

Pilt

To all of those individuals born before 1960… thanks for not doing anything about America’s transportation and energy issues.

Maybe you should amend that to say; “Thanks to everyone who supported the Republican agenda for the last 40 years.” Blaming all of us just doesn’t cut it…..

Pilt

In five recent bills to allow more drilling, an average of 90% of all Democrats opposed. On those same bills, an average of 90% of all Republicans supported more drilling.
We can, therefore, assume that Democrats want us to pay more for gas.
It doesn’t take long to drill wells. We won WWII in four years, and could drill and pump wells in one or two. But, Democrats prefer that we pay $4.00/gallon. They do this for their latest idol, Global Warming. They like their idol more than they like us.
Amazing that voters can complain about their recent impoverishment (gas prices accelerated when Dems took control of Congress) and be stupid enough to vote for the people who are screwing them.

Whatever you may think….drilling wells isn’t easy. Particularly because most of the world’s “easy oil” has already been gotten. At this point, the major oil fields have been tapped out…or are in serious decline.

And listen, even if there is more oil out there which hasn’t been discovered yet, can’t you see that it’s getting rarer and rarer all the time…and that extracting it is getting more difficult and more expensive?

The “end game” on oil may be ten years from now or fifty…but the day is coming at us fast.

When it comes to ANWR, even the most optimistic estimates say we’d get 4-5 years of oil out of it. And those are just estimates! So what do we do after THAT? Look for another savior oil field somewhere?

Pilt

This is one of those topics that will fuel a weekend long debate especially when comments are made that its a Democratic problem or a Republican problem. The fact of the matter is the US has absolutely no control over oil prices, oil consumption, oil production, oil exploration, who we buy from, who won’t sell it to us and so on and so on. It makes no difference who is the majority in Congress or what party controls the White House. The unbelievably huge amounts of money generated by the oil business simply push governments aside and do business as usual. This is not unlike the drug cartells with their endless riches that simply import whatever and whenever they please and not a government on this earth can stop it. The only way to stop it…is to stop using it.
JP

the moving of goods and people in America has been a long and winding tale. much like the paths, trails, roads, highways, canals, rail rights of way and air spaces that have and do exist today. Traces of the wagon trails across the plains can still be seen today. But at no time was there a clear consistent plan for that movement. Why expect it now? If all elected officials have to ride public transit to get to work our trains, buses, trolleys etc would be in excellent shape and be subsidized within in an inch of profit. But for some reason trains must make a profit in the minds of the aviation happy Congress and they wither and die just at the time they are needed most. but their traces will be seen for decades.