Kunstler: Rebuild the Passenger Rail System

Kunstler, nostalgically recalling his pleasant and even luxurious childhood journeys by train, laments the fact that these days

"...train travel in the United States has become a pretty bare-bones affair. Amtrak has become the laughingstock of the world. Most Americans now living have never even been passengers on a train -- for them it's as outmoded as the stagecoach."

However, with the economy in crisis and traditional energy supplies running low, investing in passenger rail may be the best way to keep people and goods moving, and rebuilding the economy. He argues that

"the tracks are still lying out there rusting in the rain, waiting to be fixed. The job doesn't require the reinvention of anything -- we already know how to do it. Rebuilding the system would put scores of thousands of people to work at meaningful jobs at all levels. The fact that we're barely talking about it shows what an unserious people we have become."