Re: (erielack) The Piermont Branch 6' guage

["BPRutter_@_aol.com"]

I must add my voice in support of Messrs. Tate and Jordan.  How much have we 
seen of how the government added to the costs of the railroads, and how the 
hidden subsidies to highway trucking led to the problems the railroads faced 
in the 60's and 70's.  There were several threads in this list not too long 
ago about the effects of disproportionate real estate taxes and full crew 
laws, and their contribution to the demise of the EL.  A large part of the 
reason for the spate of parallel mergers in the 60's was that the government 
opposed the end to end mergers which would have made more economic sense.  
When I was studying economics at UCLA, we had a professor who taught a course 
in the economics of transportation.  He told us "Many of my colleagues 
believe that the ICC should be abolished, the building that houses it razed, 
and the ground sown with salt.  I consider myself a liberal on this topic.  
The building can stay."

    Remember that as far as protecting us from the ravages of the Microsofts, 
et. al. is concerned, we always have the ability to not buy Windows or 
whatever.  That we do so represents a collective judgment that the benefits 
of a relatively standard operating system (in the Windows example) outweighs 
any potential harm from the size of Microsoft.  So long as there are no 
artificial barriers to entry, a so-called predatory pricing scheme only 
benefits the consumer by lowering prices.  

    The biggest lie in the world is not "Your check is in the mail" or "Yes, 
I'll still respect you in the morning".  It is, instead, "I'm from the 
government, and I'm here to help you".  

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