Freericks Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> While the argument is often made that transit
> funding (and Amtrak) are unfairly skewed to the
> east coast (and then somewhat to the west coast),
> it is important to remember two things:
>
> 1) The largest urban areas (cities, suburbs,
> exurbs) are where the majority of the US
> population and tax payers actually live.

The states with the largest populations are not served by the NEC - California, Texas, et al
>
> 2) The states with the largest cities are all
> paying more to the Federal government than they
> are getting back, while small population states
> like Wyoming get more in Federal spending than
> they contribute.

This is a false analogy. Small population states are also the states where the federal government owns most of the land, and all the costs associated with federal land ownership. Such states also usually have lower costs of living, so those who live off transfer payments tend to make their homes in these states. Finally, all the phoney baloney QE~ monopoly money went straight into Wall Street and Silicon Valley coffers. Little if any found it's way into Red State America.
>
> Thus - folks in NJ supporting Amtrak is not an
> unfair poll to consider.

The bottom line remains that the northeast states expect the nation's taxpayers to keep pouring money into the NEC. If indeed those NE states were paying more than they take in, they'd have no problem taking over full responsibility for the NEC, huh?