FREEP THIS POLL

WTNH TV ^ | 6/24/02 | puppage

[Puppage]

Should we bail out AMTRAK...Again?

[Puppage]

A BIG NO is needed here..

[Conservative Chicagoan]

Do you actually mean to say that you prefer to drive your own vehicle like a normal American? Seriously, who exactly uses Amtrak? It has to be a bunch of losers who can't afford cars and that is pretty sad.

[tall_tex]

I can't believe it is running 50/50..

[ReaganGirl]

Guess that makes me a loser. I frequently use Amtrak as does my husband for business trips from Washington to New York.

I don't end up stuck in traffic, I can work, make phone calls, use my computer and get a cup of coffee on the way and the train puts me right downtown where I need to be.

The alternative is four hours on the Jersey Turnpike, cold coffee that I poured three hours ago and four hours of lost productivity that I will never get back again.

Yea, all in all that AmtraK really bites.

[WellsFargo94]

49% yes

51% NO

[Clara Lou]

Seriously, who exactly uses Amtrak? It has to be a bunch of losers who can't afford cars and that is pretty sad.
Open mouth, insert foot.

[Gaston]

I couldn't belive it was 50/50 until I saw that it was a Connecticut new station.

[weegee]

At 2:15PM CST:

Yes 51%

No 49%

No tally of the number of voters.

[Eddie Haskell]

I voted YES. If the government can bail out the airlines, why not trains.

[Eddie Haskell]

You are a sad, pathetic ignoramus.

[Eddie Haskell]

Yes, I was just being sarcastic in message #9.

[ScholarWarrior]

1. Planes add economic value.
2. Airline failure would have been due to govt lack of preparedness, not 30 years of mismanagement.
3. Airline support constitutes loans to cover liquidity needs, not long term operating losses.

[ScholarWarrior]

Sorry I missed your #11.

[Puppage]

Aaaa, because it's our money, and they've been bailing out Amtrak since 1971??? See a a distinct difference?

[Tom D.]

It does not necessarily make you a looser, but you are misguided. Just because Amtrack is convenient for you and your family, it does not necessarily follow that others should be forced to help pay your fare. Presumably you are willing to pay a higher fare to ride on Amtrack than you are paying. If any convenience is worth having, it is worth the cost that the users of that convenience need to pay to keep it afloat.

Just because the government subsidizes other improper ventures, it should not follow that it is right that it subsidize all improper ventures. It is those who make the contra argument who will have everyone subsidizing everyone else for inefficient, unwanted, and unnecessary services (e.g. mohair production.

As I understand it (and I don't understand it very well) the operation of airports is funded by a tax levied on airline tickets. I believe that there is and always has been a substantial surplus in that fund. I believe (again I could be incorrect) that the interstate highway system is largely funded by fuel taxes. Again, the users pay (or if my understanding is incorrect, they should pay) for the ride one way or another.

Amtrack is asking for (and is apparently going to get) funding from hundreds of millions of taxpayers who have never seen an Amtrack train.

Please excuse the suplus parenthases (()).

[gunnedah]

We subsidize AMTRAK to the tune of millions every year just for the purpose of commuters in the DC, New York,New England corridor while the poor workers down south and out West have to ride old worn out school buses and the likes to work.I believe the Democrats my furnish the working poor better transportation if they jumped ship one time and voted Republican.
Also I saw Michael Dukakis on OReilly tonight saying AMTRAK would be self sufficient in 2003.So it must be so if Dukakis and the Democrats say it!

[StopGlobalWhining]

Social parasites and freeloaders are pulling ahead: Yes 53%, No 47%.

[reg45]

The Boston - New York - Washington line may be one of the few Amtrak routes that makes money.

[ReaganGirl]

but you are misguided. Just because Amtrack is convenient for you and your family, it does not necessarily follow that others should be forced to help pay your fare.

I believe that it is you who are misguided. At no time in my post did I say that the Federal Government should help me pay for anything or bail out Amtrak. I own my own firm and my husband is a banker. We're more than capable of paying our own way and do so quite nicely.

Perhaps you should read more carefully before opening keyboard to insert both feet.

[Militiaman7]

Count me in with the losers

There are times I can't drive and all the time I can't drive more than 3-4 hours in a day. I ride the train whenever I get a chance. I can take my wheelchair on the train, get up move around a little bit, relax.

It's especially great on long trips, coast to coast.

My vote is to upgrade train service.