Lol, just yesterday I got a YouTube recommendation for “Growing rat neurons to play video games” with the thumbnail “Can this play Doom?” So yeah, things might be getting kinda weird…
Lol, just yesterday I got a YouTube recommendation for “Growing rat neurons to play video games” with the thumbnail “Can this play Doom?” So yeah, things might be getting kinda weird…
“Amtrak is a state-owned enterprise. This means that Amtrak is a for-profit company, but that the federal government owns all its preferred stock.”
“ Yes, your tax dollars (a tiny portion of them, at least) winds up keeping Amtrak trains on the tracks. Amtrak makes a significant portion of its money from ticket sales, but the company could not exist without the help of federal/state subsidies and billions of dollars in grants.
Amtrak typically sees between 1 and 2 billion dollars of federal money come its way each year. That’s roughly equivalent to a few thousandths of the federal government’s budget. If we took a super simple view of our tax bills, we could say that most Americans spend a couple bucks each year to subsidize Amtrak. Obviously, taxes are way more complicated than that, but it’s helpful to think about.
64% of Amtrak’s money comes directly from ticket sales. The rest comes from a combination of other things, most especially subsidies and grants, though investments and other business activities account for significant revenue as well.”
I just learned about the Do Not Track standard, which seems like a much better solution. Just tell your browser once that you don’t want to be tracked, and websites are required to respect that. Rather than each website implementing its own banner UI.
Cheers :)
Btw, I was dreading checking this all day as I expected to get chewed out by an internet stranger. Thanks for your reply :)
That’s such a great idea, can’t believe I never heard of it! Thanks for sharing!
Funny you mention Amtrak, as I just yesterday watched this video which shows the current Amtrak experience, explains the history and why it’s currently so far behind the rest of the world. Turns out, it’s been starved of funding from the government for a long time.
https://youtu.be/von_IMi97-w