From: nilknocgeo@earthlink.net   
      
   "Robert Heller"  wrote in message   
   news:V7qdnbBBKYkw6lPOnZ2dnUVZ_qadnZ2d@giganews.com...   
   > At Tue, 22 Jul 2014 07:01:45 -0700 (PDT) hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:   
   >   
   >>   
   >> On Monday, July 21, 2014 10:34:36 PM UTC-4, Glen Labah wrote:   
   >>   
   >> > If you can find some other reason why the Koch Brothers behave as   
   >> > they=20   
   >> > do, I would love to hear it.   
   >>   
   >> Generally speaking, folks who oppose Amtrak and transit do so for   
   >> ideology,=   
   >>  greed, and power.  Not logic nor facts.   
   >>   
   >> These folks have got the notion locked in their heads that rail public   
   >> tran=   
   >> sit--local and Amtrak--is somehow evil and must be eliminated.  They   
   >> believ=   
   >> e it represents an enormous drain on the Federal deficit (people used to   
   >> co=   
   >> me to this newsgroup and say so).  Ironically, they have no problem with   
   >> th=   
   >> e evil guvmint operating highways, toll facilities, or airports--no call   
   >> to=   
   >>  sell off and privatize any of those operations.   
   >>   
   >> As another example, in Pennsylvania, liquor/wine stores are run by the   
   >> stat=   
   >> e, a legacy of the depression.  The state makes a profit off of their   
   >> sales=   
   >>  which goes into the state treasury.  The anti-government crowd   
   >> desperately=   
   >>  wants to sell off the stores, and make all sorts of FALSE claims about   
   >> the=   
   >>  situation.  The actual bottom line is that the state would end up losing   
   >> m=   
   >> oney--after all, store profits now kept by the state would then be kept   
   >> by =   
   >> private businesses.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> Another aspect is greed and power.  You would think if someone builds up   
   >> a =   
   >> $1 million fortune they'd be happy.  But no, they then want $10 million,   
   >> th=   
   >> en $100 million.  They begin to see their wealth as an _entitlement_ that   
   >> t=   
   >> hey deserve, and they vehemently object to anything that gets in their   
   >> way,=   
   >>  or that they disagree with.   
   >>   
   >> It's scary--these folks want to turn the clock back to the robber barron   
   >> er=   
   >> a 100 years ago, which they think was good for the country.   
   >   
   > Right, the robber barron era ultimately resulted in the 1929 stock market   
   > crash, followed by the Great Depression. Which in turn was 'fixed' with   
   > the1   
   > New Deal: a progressive Income Tax, Social Security, etc. And *that* led   
   > to a   
   > great prosperity, which pretty much ended with Regan & the neo-cons who   
   > cut   
   > various taxes and undid various banking regulations put in place to   
   > prevent   
   > another 1929-style stock market crash.   
   >   
   > The only reason we didn't have *another* 1929-style stock market crash +   
   > *second* Great Depression, was because some of the New Deal reforms are   
   > still   
   > in effect (including Social Security). But otherwise, the economy is is in   
   > a   
   > bad way, and will *continue* to be in a bad way, probably until there is   
   > another "New Deal" OR there is a second American Revolution or Civil War.   
   > The   
   > Koch Brothers and their ilk are not making things better, they are making   
   > things worse.   
   >   
      
   However, Amtrak is not key to prosperity.  And transit exists because of   
   laws which make driver drive alone in their cars.  We have a vast transit   
   surplus which goes wasted.  Maybe these new apps will help with that.  I   
   don't know yet.   
      
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