All Posts Tagged With: "Amtrak"
Government: More Incompetent than Ever
Most intellectuals support big government, and millions of people depend on it. So why, with thousands of laws, millions of employees working to carry out those laws, and trillions of dollars spent, is it in trouble? The most popular big-government programs–like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid–are going broke. These entitlements account for more than half [...]
19Apr2010 | Jim Powell | 1 comment | ContinuedGovernment Motors
Government Motors by Michael Heberling Michael Heberling (mheber01@baker.edu) is president of the Baker College Center for Graduate Studies in Flint, Michigan. If Washington owns it, it just can’t keep its hands off. —Senator Lamar Alexander Twenty-five years ago President Reagan told auto workers in Orion, Michigan, “You’ve demonstrated when the chips are down, what people [...]
23Oct2009 | Michael Heberling | 6 comments | ContinuedWelfare for the Rich
Advocates of the free market—including those considered “right-wing” and “conservative”—believe it is wrong to violate property rights. Consequently, they oppose egalitarian measures to steal from the rich and give to the poor. Such “income redistribution” represents naked theft and epitomizes the Founding Fathers’ fears of unfettered democracy. At the same time, champions of laissez faire [...]
1Apr2007 | Robert P. Murphy | 10 comments | ContinuedAre Highways Subsidized?
I have always loved trains. I am an ardent cyclist, and I never particularly liked automobiles. So I always took it for granted that the reason most Americans drive and passenger trains have nearly disappeared is that our highways are unfairly subsidized. I felt particularly incensed that the Interstate Highway System, which took business from [...]
1Nov2006 | Randal OToole | 8 comments | ContinuedSubsidizing Failure Again . . . And Again, and Again, and Again
Scott McPherson is a freelance writer in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Following the September 11 terrorist attacks the airline industry stepped up to the public trough to the tune of a $15 billion bailout—because of a radical drop in demand. Then Amtrak stepped up to the public trough—$3.2 billion in emergency financing and $35 billion in loan [...]
1Feb2002 | Scott McPherson | 2 comments | ContinuedFair Is Fair
Several years ago, just after Congress had finally killed the federal mohair subsidy, I interviewed a lobbyist for the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association. He told me he was confident Congress would restore the program in the next session. Why? Because it wasn’t fair that other agricultural interests had subsidies and the goat ranchers [...]
1Oct2001 | Andrew P. Morriss | 0 comments | ContinuedTrain Wreck
Gregory Bresiger is a senior writer with Financial Planning Magazine. The power to tax involves the power to destroy,” Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall said. So does the power to regulate. In the decades after World War II, many American railroads fought a losing battle for survival.[1] Railroad executives had been lulled by strong [...]
1Aug1999 | Gregory Bresiger | 2 comments | Continued-
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