Recently, Jose posted:

AMTRAK (let's not even go there!).
If you haven't "gone there", you should. Some of the most pleasurable
vacations...

So? Whether you (or anybody) enjoys AMTRAK doesn't change the fact
that it is a case of public dollars going to a private enterprise.

When did AmTrak become a private enterprise?

Privately owned trains are for-profit businesses, not a public
service. Certainly, the line isn't that fuzzy to you?

But if they serve the public good, they are (by your definition) a
proper role of government too.

That's YOUR opinion. I don't recall positing anything of the kind, and to
be more direct, for-profit businesses are not a public service, even if
their operations provide some benefit to the public. I think I'm beginning
to see why you think the line is fuzzy.

The reality is that it would sort itself out in short order, given
the mortgages that must still be paid. Most farmers aren't stupid
people.

Maybe half of them will go out of business and the farmland will be
turned into airports and condos. The other half will survive.

Your basis for thinking this is...?

It's likely that the ability to transport apples
globally reduced the profitability

It's more likely that wine is just more profitable.

Curious that you omitted my statement to this effect, which refutes your
notion that farmers would go out of business and that farmland would be
turned into "airports and condos". Didn't happen in CA, and it's unlikely
to happen elsewhere.

[deducting aviation as a tutoring expense...] You'd likely wind
up sucking the government teat from behind bars, because
travel expenses don't work that way. ;-)

"Reasonable and necessary". This is subject to interpretation.

The issue is not whether the trip is necessary, it's how the travel
expense deduction is set up.

A
business owner does not have to pick the cheapest or most efficient
mode of transport. It just can't be "extravagant".

Perhaps you should review the tax code on this one.

I would argue
that using an airplane to visit my far flung clients of education is
similar to using an airplane to visit my far flung clients in sales.
Free flying. Why not?

Try it and we'll see how it works out for you. Perhaps, with good
behavior, you could still participate in R.A.P. from the Fed Pen computer?
;-)

Neil