[Publius]

Interesting argument, but as Warren Buffett said, "The airline business, from the time of Wilbur and Orville Wright through 1991, made zero money net." In other words, it was not profitable in the long run. Yet people take planes every day, and the government subsidizes the airlines through a variety of methods.

The author is simply asking for a level playing field.

[cksharks]

Yea and the level playing field he wants is billions more of taxpayers money.Why in the hell should a person in Alaska or Idaho give a shit if a bunch of eletist punks from the north east get any of their money. They would have to give the rails about 100 billion a year to make them break even. What a crock. If the idiots in the north east want to ride a train let them pay for,ala 50 bucks a ticket a day.

[Doctor Stochastic]

So, let the airlines go broke. (Or let them make a profit.) The lack of allocation of costs due to government subsidies means that it's impossible to rationally allocate funds. If people really like to fly, perhaps they should pay. I do not know which of airlines or trains or cars or canals are better; I know that it can't be computed as of now. Politics drives monetary allocations, not markets.