Federally subsidized Amtrak passenger rail service recently marked its 40th anniversary.
That seems an odd thing to “celebrate,” considering the fact that unconstitutional Amtrak has never once broken even in all those decades.
Investor’s Business Daily notes some of Amtrak’s other drawbacks:
• As of 2008, it had 13 money-losing lines to every one line that turned a profit.
• The average loss per Amtrak passenger is $32. (Taxpayers are on the hook for those losses, though most of us do not even use Amtrak.)
• Amtrak has gotten $40 billion in subsidies over the past four decades.
Knowing all that, are you glad – or troubled – that President Barack Obama actually wants to expand federally funded rail service?