I'm at work, so I can only touch on a couple of points:
Obama is talking about taxing profit, not revenue. As uber pointed out, these are interesting times with supply still going strong yet profits being made hand over fist. He has said so (nor has anyone to my knowledge), but I would hope he would use the money generated by such a tax to reform the rail industry.
Blkalero, you mentioned that most goods go by truck, which is true. However rail is a much more efficient way to move any good in bulk (it takes 1 gallon of deisel to move 1 ton 500 miles). It is often more convenient to move goods by truck, but I think that the days of longhaul trucking are ending and sooner than most people think. It is too inefficient and dangerous - the national average for longhaul fleets is $0.07 per 1 mile driven in bodily injury and property damage. Some truckers are better; many are worse.
Finally, I expect that the gun ban was something that Obama supported before it became unconstitutional. Now that it is, he recognizes it as the law of the land, just like flag burning, nude dancing and separation of church and state. Its not Obama that changed - its the sitation.
__________________
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo
|