Billionaire Elon Musk said on Wednesday that the government should privatize both the United States Postal Service and Amtrak.
Musk spoke at a Morgan Stanley technology conference and said the government should privatize “as much as possible,” claiming that this would create improvements across many parts of government.
“I think logically we should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized,” he said, per Reuters.
“I think we should privatize the Post Office and Amtrak for example… We should privatize everything we possibly can.”
Musk specifically pointed to Amtrak, calling it “a sad situation” and pleading with those visiting to use a different form of transportation.
“If you’re coming from another country, please don’t use our national rail. It can leave you with a very bad impression of America,” he said, as reported by NBC News. “So, I just, I think we should prioritize anything that can be privatized.”
Musk further explained that privatization would help bring consistent improvement to these departments, noting that the consistent feedback would help keep everything up to date.
“You’ve got a feedback loop for improvement, is what happens when something’s privatized,” Musk said, per The New York Post.
“Basically something’s got to have some chance of going bankrupt or there’s not a good feedback loop for improvement.”
The potential improvements are clear in the example of the U.S. Postal Service, which has consistently lost money since the introduction of online messaging.
Although USPS reported fourth-quarter earnings of more than $144 million, the service has lost more than $100 billion since 2007 as people rely more on email than physical mail, per Reuters.
Similarly, Amtrak has struggled in recent memory after reporting a $705 million loss for the 12 months ending September 30, per Reuters.
However, ridership reportedly topped the pre-COVID numbers for the first time in 2024, with 32.8 million trips, a 15% increase from 2023.
Amtrak responded to Musk’s comments by stating that “business performance is strong” and privatization is not being considered.
“Ridership and revenue are at all-time highs…. The train service we operate across our nationwide network, as mandated by law, is on-track to reach operational profitability – for the first time in history – during this administration,” added Amtrak, per U.S. News.
Musk acknowledged that any move to privatize these services would likely require congressional approval, but that did not sway him from mentioning the potential improvements that could be made.