Show me any country that has made it profitable-or breaks even-hauling people and their belongings. Don't get me wrong; I agree with you 100% on the 'spin' of polls. Yet Amtrak, and probably any other medium, will always choke without capital investment and continued annual supplements hauling people around because you can't resell a person (well, not legally, anyway.) like you can a carload of tires.

I wonder how profitable airlines would be if they had to pay a comparable per-capita percentage for upkeep, expansion and maintenance of airports and facilities. And what about their right-of-way? The sky is free! Trucking companies, railroads and even Amtrak has to pay for right-of-way upkeep, and their respective terminals as well.

Let's see the Interstate highway system, Amtrak and the airlines all get EQUAL per-capita tax dollars.

Well, I suppose I've given it a good stir....