Tom Laskawy is tired of hearing about the "money-losing Amtrak passenger rail system." He replies:Come on! How about the money-losing Interstate Highway System? Or the money-losing national parks? Or our money-losing VA Hospitals? Or the Mother of All Money-losers: the US Military?I know this is a leftover from 30 years of effective Republican privatization messaging, but still. Just because a bunch of market-crazed freaks decided one day that our interstate rail system should make money doesn't mean we all have to drink the Kool-Aid. Just stop it, AP!Some things should be judged on their ability to make a profit. But not everything. And as Tom says, that's not a controversial position when talking about highways and parks and fighter jets. But there's been a concerted effort over the past 30 or 40 years to paint Amtrak as uniquely wasteful because, like highways and parks and fighter jets, it loses money. In some ways, you can see how this works: The fact that you buy tickets for Amtrak suggests that the service is like an airline (though they're also losing money!) or an amusement park when, in fact, the tickets are meant to defray operating costs somewhat, not ensure an actual profit. Amtrak could make money by eliminating all unprofitable routes and essentially ceasing to serve the middle of the country and rural Americans and becoming more of an elite high-speed service for rich Northeasterners. But it's not clear we should want that.
