Elon Musk Suggests USPS, Amtrak Should Be Privatized: ‘We Should Privatize Everything We Possibly Can’

Tesla CEO and DOGE senior advisor Elon Musk has been making headlines for a variety of reasons during the early days of President Donald Trump’s second term, most recently for comments made during a March 5 Morgan Stanley conference.

As Reuters reported, Musk told those in attendance — he appeared virtually, per CNN — that a broad-based privatization strategy was his personal preference when it comes to certain major operations.

“I think logically we should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized,” Musk said. “I think we should privatize the Post Office and Amtrak for example… We should privatize everything we possibly can.”

Musk further indicated that these prospective privatization efforts concerning both Amtrak and USPS would likely require congressional approval. Representatives for Amtrak and USPS have not yet made comments in response.

Musk Calls Amtrak Situation ‘Kind of Embarrassing’ Compared to China’s Bullet Trains

Musk certainly didn’t pull any punches when describing the current state of affairs concerning Amtrak, saying it was “kind of embarrassing” how other nations have “way better passenger rail than we do,” citing China’s bullet trains as one example.

“Amtrak is a sad situation. It’s like, 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,” Musk said.

“I think we should privatize anything that can be privatized, just so you’ve got a feedback loop for improvement, is what happens when something’s privatized. Basically something’s got to have some chance of going bankrupt or there’s not a good feedback loop for improvement,” he added.

Musk refrained from making more detailed comments over a potential privatization of USPS.

USPS Turns Recent Profit Despite Long-Term Losses, Amtrak Ridership up but Cost Concerns Persist

As Reuters detailed, the USPS has suffered a loss of more than $100 billion since 2007 — including a loss of $9.5 billion in the year-long period ending Sept. 30, 2024. On the other hand, the postal service reported Q4 profit of $177 million earlier this month.

And for Amtrak, ridership topped pre-COVID figures in December of last year for the first time since the pandemic began. While ridership increased over 2023’s numbers by 15%, reaching a record height of 32.8 million customer trips, Amtrak also posted an operating loss of $705 million for the 12 months ending Sept. 30.

Musk’s musings about privatizing the USPS dovetail with Trump’s longstanding commentary in a similar vein, as a separate CNN report outlined.