Why does Pete Buttigieg want to be transportation secretary ?
Author: Whistling Pete
Date: 12-15-2020 - 16:57
I suspect Pete Buttigieg will just care about Amtrak. I'm not a huge Amtrak fan, really.
I do care about carload freight. There are industrial parks around the nation that were built and designed for carload freight in the 1960's and 70's. Then in the 80's and 90's, that rail traffic declined and mostly went away. Trucking, poor rail service, etc, were factors.
I am pro business, pro free market, and I do not think government can manage anything effectively! But it bugs me that Class I's can decide who ships by rail. That's a lot of power.
I don't know what the solution is. Since many branch lines have been closed and sold, it is impossible to go back to local rail freight. I know Trump conned a lot of people into thinking we could go back to a jobs economy of the 60's and 70's. Nice sentiment, but to do that you would have to get Dem's and Repub's to work TOGETHER, and good luck with that!