The problem is that a subsidy for Amtrak is a SUBSIDY!!!!!!

But a subsidy for trucking or barges is a "subjective equivalency". Nobody want to face the fact that it is a subsidy. I didn't say it was a bad subsidy, but it is still a subsidy.

Airlines don't have to put up the capital to build airports. Trucking companies, and buses for that matter, don't have to put up the capital to build highways, but railroads do have to put up capital to build and maintain railroads. The Amtrak subsidy is an indirect subsidy to the railroads in that they no longer have to carry the losses of running a passenger service.

All of these subsidies are choices that we and our elected representatives have made. We could have chosen differently, but we did not.

I'm only stating facts, not my preferences in the matter.