From: glevy@pratt.edu
Date: Tue Jun 10 2008 - 11:00:43 EDT
> The problem is that the high organic composition of capital in railways > means that they are likely to earn a low rate of profit and thus be > unattractive to private firms unless these get huge subsidies as in the UK. Hi Paul C: That's why - if rail has a future under capitalism - it must be produced as a public good. The problem, though, is that states have been moving in the opposite direction in recent years: privatization and deregulation. And states don't want to increase taxes or borrow to expand rail services (for political reasons) . In the US, this has led to the gradual deterioration of commuter rail systems and (simultaneously) higher ticket prices. They would like to get out of the commuter rail business altogether, but that not being possible, they wish to shift the costs to (mostly working class) consumers. (Something very similar has taken place here with public universities.) In solidarity, Jerry _______________________________________________ ope mailing list ope@lists.csuchico.edu https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/ope
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