Whoever said getting there is half the fun was selling hallmark cards or antacids. Amtrak does not own its own tracks, so if a train is the even the slightest bit late, it loses its place in line and must wait for every milk running, freight hauling, misbegotten hobo magnet before it is allowed continue. If this arrangement seems as if it is done less out of some sort of “courteous code of the steel rails” than begrudgingly out of the mighty and intrusive hand of big government... well, that’s exactly what it is. Corporations feed like lions, but socialize like selfish 3 year olds. Especially when they have to maintain and repair their lines and are expected share them with “freeloaders.”
Today it seems strange that companies would be motivated by something other than profits, but back in the late 70’s when such paleolithic creatures as A.M. music radio, phone booths and liberal Republicans walked the Earth, there was a thing called “public goods.” All publicly sanctioned institutions (e.g., radio, television and licensed corporations) were expected to give back to there communities in appreciation for their patronage and support. This flies in the face of the current philosophy which looks upon all creatures on God’s green Earth as the bequeathed inheritance of Adam, intended to be mined and spent before the much lauded and notoriously immanent second coming. “Use it before you lose it! It’s Gods will. Amen.”
Sharing tracks was thought reasonable when Corporate raiders, vulture capitalists and the savings and loan scandals where just a glint in these forward looking captains of industry’s eyes, but they still bitterly complained about sharing their toys with Amtrak. Reminding them that they were the beneficiaries of the public largess like getting generous land grants, borrowing the government’s awesome power of eminent domain, and allowing lines to produce virtual monopolies that they used to blackmailed farmers, miners and industrialists alike (John D. Rockefeller was forced to make pipelines to move his oil.) This scolding in no way assuaged their grief or shook their faith in the dawning age of corporate greed. To them, giving it away was not only a drain on job creators and the “makers...not takers”, they argued that it was bad for the public to expect things out of the empty altruism of civic duty, the general welfare, social justice, charity and compassion for the poor.
In time, and with the help of Reaganomics, the tide of money turned and flowed away from public goods and back to corporations in the form of tax abatements, specialized utilities and construction, or outright subsidies. More tribute than payment, this in no way bound restricted “corporate citizens” from picking up and moving if they could make a dime on the deal.
“Want GM to stay in Flint, put on that sexy nightgown and tell me how you’ll build me a new power plant while cutting my taxes lower than Mississippi’s. How about bankrupting your schools for a free sports stadium? Oh, baby! Talk incentives to me.”
So, put away Dr. Seuss and pull out Ayn Rand. Prepare your children for the ethos of tomorrow. Sharing is a sign of weakness that your fellow citizens, read competitors, will exploit to your detriment. The golden rule and all that “altruism” crap has the tarnished patina of decay, while Hobb’s Leviathan is kept lean by the law of the jungle.
....still waiting.
Part 2: July 16, 03:03 cst.
Somewhere in Nebraska.
Somewhere in Nebraska.
The teenage Sasquatch in the seat in front of me is loudly shredding his chair in an unsuccessful attempt to get comfortable enough to sleep. My seat is wide with leg and foot rests, and it fully reclines. He’s waking up the mummies and one my one they hear the call of their swollen prostates and they stagger to the john. There’s already a long line. Grumpy grandpas for breakfast tomorrow.
