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From: mjk@tty3b.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: State run enterprises
Message-ID: <131@tty3b.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 17-Jun-83 14:08:04 EDT
Article-I.D.: tty3b.131
Posted: Fri Jun 17 14:08:04 1983
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On Jon White's comparison between highways and railroads:

	Why are railroads expected to return a profit while the Interstate
	highway system, the largest public works program in the history of
	the world (costing between $100 and $400 billion), has never been
	asked to show a return?  Which airports have been closed because
	they weren't profitable? And yet the entire FAA exists to subsidize
	air transport.

	This is NOT an argument against government subsidy.  I'm just pointing
	out that subsidies exist everywhere, so it's ridiculous to argue
	that railroads should die if they "can't survive in the marketplace."