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Does success of Amtrak funding lay in the sheets of our beds? A theory with twists and shouts:


NE933

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My beautiful bipolar mind hatched up this winner of a version of the Amtrak funding via taxes debate, it'll spring from alot of the tenets of principal all of us brought to the table in previous postings.

 

I made a thought that Amtrak is the rightful recipient of public funding, with the condition this money, along with ticket and other revenues, must be saved and used/invested in wise ways that banishes waste, and considers the points of various experts.

 

I read the view that the use of Amtrak by vacationers shouldn't be the sole governing deciding mechanism by which to plan investments in capacity, better track, and so on. I later tempered that (i guess) by pleading those on this forum not to exclude the purchasing power of tourism, that it should be considered in the mix though not highest of priorities. Amtrak's business will become a better railroad when it learns how to best serve all those who demand it, and in light of the social disease of 'I Love My Car Til Death Do Us Part' so prevalent, we ought to be shaping what has become the norms of our daily lives, to have adults and their children at least be interested in making rail their daily pill and glass of water. Amtrak and other railroads must have the dollars and unselfish genius, to be successful in pulling it off. If you go thru the trouble of buying an $850.00 ticket to Miami (this is true, as i've just done so) and a Dining Car steward rudely sneers a simple request for an extra glass of water, well-- no one should put up with that. Amtrak should be held to the fire and attend to this specific trouble and its causes.

 

I'll reiterate: give Amtrak what is needed to serve the traveling public, whether business, vacation, college, medical, etc., and demand in return trains that are fast as appropriate to their geographic route (no 200mph Acelas on the edge of the Grand Canyon), comfortable, in good shape, and presents an attractive vision to the world that we work hard at making an excellent product, we'll do whatever it takes to take care of and maintaine it, we'll spread it around where it's needed, and the whole damn thing simply just looks and works great!

 

Ok. Now: detractors state that the passenger railroad is a business, and if it can't earn more than it spends: send it to hell. Or at least to Citibank which will handle the liquidated remains deftly. Then i counterpointed keynote of capitalism, that making more money is not the end all, because if it were, the joys of giving birth -- an expensive and risky medical event -- ought to go out as well. But it doesn't. What to do here, with these irreconcilables...what to do...

 

I took my lithium. Ahhh.. And my 30 year old obsession with trains continues, though in an adult on-line community talking seriously about the problems that dog us on the tracks.

 

Be patient with this, for it shall be woven into the topic, like a bang. What do people who are millionaires/billionaires, SOME of them, do with that money? Though American history, and certainly other nation's histories, greed -- it's good, said Gordon, the art of being in the recipient's position to acquire money, power, goods and the like. What need, or wound, are we soothing? It's hidden. Hidden in church confessionals, quiet whispers at the bar table, it's at the end of every needed giving a pair of lips Botox, it's in the UV bulbs burning the tan onto young skin, it's the wares of hairstylists who charge a hundred for every swipe of the comb, it's in the men's gyms and lockerrooms ensuring their muscles explode, it's in a billion dollar cosmetic business promising, no, requiring you to buy thier stuff or else you ain't deserving of life, AAANNDD -- it fuels the business of porn.

 

We have greed legion because America has a disease: a systemic, epidemic, lack of intimacy. Since the 80's we've heard college professors and have been mentored into weaving every breath towards the end goal of getting a dollar bill. Seventy hour workweeks became the norm, as is taking 'work vacations' (wtf!). Americans, as a demographic and not a generalized populus, spend billions becoming attractive, staying that way, and when we find someone, it -- uh -- doesn't work. Viagara and it's brethren wouldn't be so sought after if we hadn't handicapped our bodies' natureal sexual response. But we did, and so we pay the price. Take pills to maintain capabilities, but first one has to find somebody. So we hire them. But they can't be hired if their T & A hasn't been injected with quarts of silicon, or steroids, or both. And, internet porn has flowered into a billion dollar dream, or rather, nightmare, I say so because it has become for many THE way of gratification. We're greedy for more money so that we can purchase more love.

 

And Amtrak stands in the way. New England residents put up a fuss when Amtrak started the removal and replacement of the next movable bridge. It requires closure of the waterway channel every so often, stopping yachts and boat parties from sailing away. Armed with clout, they forced Amtrak to a time table that lengthens the process rather than taking care of it sooner, which raises expenses. Those of us believing Amtrak should lower expenses ought to be out targeting causational factors like this one.

 

If people like these reduced their extreme needs for entertainment, there would be less anxiety to defend, less competition with other more important expenditures.

 

Love and passion would be less on the computer screen, and more with two people taking the time to enjoy being together. And thier would be less worry of Amtrak's need of tax dollars because more of it will be available to a population willing and able to use trains.

 

Loss of intimcacy = a malnourished Amtrak. Repair our rails = repair our relationships. More trains = more groans of satisfaction.

 

That is my theory. Have a good one!

 

NE933

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