There's a story in today's New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/20/politics/20amtrak.html that Bush's plan to eliminate federal subsidies will push Amtrak into bankruptcy.
How enticing it must be to anyone who wants to cripple our nation's transportation system.
A couple of well-placed shoulder-launched missiles could shut down the entire air transport system - and now we will have no back up rail system.
How many years of blood, sweat and treasure has this country spent to build up a rail system? Isn't it stupid to let it wither away, especially when we know how vulnerable air transport is? We know the missiles are out there. It's a miracle that they haven't been used against us already.
Why is there not one politician who makes the point that we must keep the trains running because of the threat of terrorism?
The argument seems to be over whether Amtrak should be self-supporting. Bush (and no doubt the Highway Lobby and GM) think the priority should be that train service pays for itself. This year's subsidy would be $1.2 billion. Can you imagine the cost to this country if air transport went down - and there was no way for goods or people to get across the country except for by highway? It'd be more than $1.2 billion per
day.
Our politicians lack the creativity to plan for even such an obvious eventuality as this. Is it any wonder 52 separate warnings of terrorists using planes as bombs didn't cause any alarm bells to go off?