Beginning in 1973 and then acts in '77, '78, 1980, 1994 and then into the 21st century in the international arena, governments have steadily gotten out of the transportation business.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
If we expect to continue our leadership in the global economy, we must invest in a long-term transportation plan -f or both highways and transit programs. Too many of our roads, bridges, and railways have fallen into disrepair.
Not every innovation in transportation is going to come from government or even a large enterprise. There are smart people out there with tools and skills to come up with great ideas.
The reality about transportation is that it's future-oriented. If we're planning for what we have, we're behind the curve.
It's becoming very much like 1979 again.
The growth of means of transport has created a world market and an opportunity for division of labor embracing all the developed and most of the undeveloped states.
With more than 67 percent of the Nation's freight moving on highways, economists believe that our ability to compete internationally is tied to the quality of our infrastructure.
At American Airlines, we have built a business around the love of travel that has lasted three quarters of a century. And I'm pretty sure we're just getting started.
IT is now reaching out to fuels and chemicals, energy and clean tech, rockets, all kinds of bizarre industries that formerly didn't face much competition.
From the late 1940s, into and through the '50s, there developed a complex interaction between federal government, state and local government, real-estate interests, commercial interests and court decisions, which had the effect of undermining the mass transit system across the country.
Statutory authority to improve fuel economy has existed for 35 years at the Transportation Department, and it still exists today.