Why is it a money-losing proposition? Because, whereas the Fed builds and maintains the roads, the rail transit has to pay for its own infrastructure.

Madeleine Soudee

Georgetown University

Washington

Editor’s Note: Per-capita use of cars is increasing twice as fast in Europe as it is in the United States, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Obama is no Bush, either

Re: “As a bipartisan, Barack Obama’s no Bill Clinton,” Feb. 7

While he’s not known for it, President Bush also reached across the aisle to get things done — and he didn’t do it out of political necessity like Clinton did. While it’s likely that Obama is facing Clintonian losses in the House and Senate this year, Clinton is not the only figure to look at to learn bipartisan lessons. Granted, the bipartisan legislation passed in the Bush era made both sides of the aisle unhappy, but isn’t that the definition of bipartisanship anyway?

Dan Pellis

Rockville

We’re lucky we’re in a recession

Re: “Democrats’ agenda on life support,” Feb. 7

It should come as no surprise that the stock market has dipped below 10,000 again. President Obama is continuing his narrative of, “business is bad,” scaring away what little investment there is in this lackluster economy. I for one am scared to think what would have happened during an Obama presidency that happened during good economic times. Health care probably would have been passed already, and cap and trade wouldn’t be far behind. It’s a bittersweet victory for conservatives however, because the second dip in the “double dip” recession seems to have begun already.

Bruce Katz

Chantilly