The DC to NYC corridor is one of the few that makes sense.
I love taking the Amtrak from Milwaukee to Chicago for a Cubs game once a year. $20 bucks each way...and no driving hassles. But its obviously not needed.
Its always a very empty train. It's been a year...maybe with gas prices up,now its different.
Re:Amtrak:Transcript from CNN 7/1/08
Glenn Beck:
If you live here in the Northeast, I`m sorry for that. But chances are that the combination of I-95 looking like a parking lot and gas prices looking more like, oh, let`s say a practical joke, probably have convinced a few people to try Amtrak at some point. That`s the train system, you know.
Well, about four seconds after you stepped onto the train, which, of course, was four hours and four seconds after you were supposed to be on the train, you realized, oh, dear God, I have made a horrible, horrible mistake. Well, if that`s you, then at least you weren`t alone.
More people rode the Amtrak in May than every before, and it resulted, get this, in the most revenue that Amtrak has ever made in a single month. That is great news, until you realize the real story is that, unlike, let`s say, any other business in America, Amtrak really isn`t in the market for customers or profits. In fact, they`re not in the market for any kind of profit.
Their spokesman just told "The New York Times" that they`re not set up to make money. Excuse me? They`re "intended to maximize revenues."
Is it just me? You know, if you`re asking yourself, how come, it`s because they`re that weird combination of public and private that makes capitalists like me want to puke.
Despite receiving over $30 billion of your money, handouts from the federal government since they were created in 1971, Amtrak has never had a profitable year, and they never will. They`re not built for that, you know.
They`re well over $3 billion in debt. Many of their train cars haven`t even been updated in 30 years. And they`re so hamstrung by labor contracts and sweetheart deals for politicians that they couldn`t make a profit even if they wanted to, which, of course, they don`t.
According to their spokesperson, Amtrak is "starting to bump up against our own capacity constraints." Boy, I hate when that happens.
I know what you crazy capitalists are thinking. You`re thinking, it`s a train, just put on some more of those 30-year-old cars.
You stupid little person, you. This is Amtrak, the anti-Google. They think like congressmen, not businessmen.
Besides, when the government keeps letting you feed off their teat -- and mine`s getting a little sore -- congressmen -- Congress, by the way, just authorizes another $15 billion for the next five years -- what is your motivation to turn things around? So why do we keep giving Amtrak money?
It`s too important to fail. Uh-huh. Or is it too important to the careers of some of the politicians to fail? And more importantly, could Amtrak be the model that we`re about to follow when our airline, another one too important to fail, begins to fail because of gas prices? Ridiculous prices, horrendous service and disgusting facilities, all conveniently financed by you, the taxpayer.
Ernest Istook is the former chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation.
Ernest, you are the guy -- you had the strings, and even you couldn`t get it to choke off.
ERNEST ISTOOK, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Hey, I tried. I served 14 years in Congress, and now, Glenn, I`m recovering from that. But the problems haven`t gone away.
Amtrak on average has been getting a subsidy maybe in the vicinity of $1.5 billion a year right now. They`re losing money. The more people they carry, the more money they lose.
BECK: How does that -- hang on. I`m trying to understand the physics of that. How do you lose more money when you have more customers?
ISTOOK: Well, because the customers aren`t paying the full cost of their fare. Depending upon, you know, which route it is, the time of day, the customer may be paying half the cost of what it takes to transport them. They may be carrying sometimes as little as 10 percent.
They`re never carrying the entire cost. So, the more people that Amtrak carries, the bigger subsidy they demand from you and me.
BECK: Tell me if this is true, the Sunset Limited which goes, I think, between, where, New Orleans and California, or something like that, it`s cheaper if the taxpayers would buy each of the passengers a first- class airline ticket?
ISTOOK: And they`d get there quicker.
BECK: That`s true?
ISTOOK: Yes, it`s true. But let me tell you about another one.
You`re talking about one that runs from New Orleans to California. There`s also one that runs from Florida to California. And every passenger, every mile, takes a 60 cents subsidy. And it runs about 2,400 miles, OK?
Sixty cents a mile for every passenger. But here`s the trick, Glenn. On the way, it goes through eight states and 39 cities. That`s what happens. Amtrak is an illustration of how people have their votes bought.
BECK: Yes.
ISTOOK: I don`t care how bad the bill is if there`s something in it for me that I can brag about back home.
BECK: Right.
ISTOOK: Amtrak operates in 48 of the lower states, all of them except Montana and South Dakota. And it`s not because they have a lot of traffic in those states. In some of them, you know, they may have a couple of hundred people a day. But that representative in that area says, I have done something for the local people, even though it`s not cost-effective, even though it doesn`t make sense, even though it just adds to our nation debt burden. Still, that seems to be all that some people care about.
BECK: All right.
ISTOOK: Amtrak is past masters (ph) at working the political process.
BECK: Does this scare the crap out of you that we`re talking now about the nationalization possibly of airlines, of our banking and financial sector? We have talked about our oil companies, health care. Good God, almighty, these are the people that are running Amtrak.
Does it scare you at all?
ISTOOK: Sure, that scares me. I mean, when you hear people like Maxine Waters saying let`s have government take over the refineries and the oil companies, yes, that scares me.
When you say, well, maybe the government ought to be controlling air travel, yes. I mean, rail transportation is the most expensive form to the taxpayers in the country.
They had a study that was done by the U.S. Department of Transportation, right? It showed that rail passengers got a $200 subsidy for every 1,000 miles they travel.
BECK: Ernest, thank you very much, man.
ISTOOK: Thanks, Glenn.
Glenn Beck:
If you live here in the Northeast, I`m sorry for that. But chances are that the combination of I-95 looking like a parking lot and gas prices looking more like, oh, let`s say a practical joke, probably have convinced a few people to try Amtrak at some point. That`s the train system, you know.
Well, about four seconds after you stepped onto the train, which, of course, was four hours and four seconds after you were supposed to be on the train, you realized, oh, dear God, I have made a horrible, horrible mistake. Well, if that`s you, then at least you weren`t alone.
More people rode the Amtrak in May than every before, and it resulted, get this, in the most revenue that Amtrak has ever made in a single month. That is great news, until you realize the real story is that, unlike, let`s say, any other business in America, Amtrak really isn`t in the market for customers or profits. In fact, they`re not in the market for any kind of profit.
Their spokesman just told "The New York Times" that they`re not set up to make money. Excuse me? They`re "intended to maximize revenues."
Is it just me? You know, if you`re asking yourself, how come, it`s because they`re that weird combination of public and private that makes capitalists like me want to puke.
Despite receiving over $30 billion of your money, handouts from the federal government since they were created in 1971, Amtrak has never had a profitable year, and they never will. They`re not built for that, you know.
They`re well over $3 billion in debt. Many of their train cars haven`t even been updated in 30 years. And they`re so hamstrung by labor contracts and sweetheart deals for politicians that they couldn`t make a profit even if they wanted to, which, of course, they don`t.
According to their spokesperson, Amtrak is "starting to bump up against our own capacity constraints." Boy, I hate when that happens.
I know what you crazy capitalists are thinking. You`re thinking, it`s a train, just put on some more of those 30-year-old cars.
You stupid little person, you. This is Amtrak, the anti-Google. They think like congressmen, not businessmen.
Besides, when the government keeps letting you feed off their teat -- and mine`s getting a little sore -- congressmen -- Congress, by the way, just authorizes another $15 billion for the next five years -- what is your motivation to turn things around? So why do we keep giving Amtrak money?
It`s too important to fail. Uh-huh. Or is it too important to the careers of some of the politicians to fail? And more importantly, could Amtrak be the model that we`re about to follow when our airline, another one too important to fail, begins to fail because of gas prices? Ridiculous prices, horrendous service and disgusting facilities, all conveniently financed by you, the taxpayer.
Ernest Istook is the former chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation.
Ernest, you are the guy -- you had the strings, and even you couldn`t get it to choke off.
ERNEST ISTOOK, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Hey, I tried. I served 14 years in Congress, and now, Glenn, I`m recovering from that. But the problems haven`t gone away.
Amtrak on average has been getting a subsidy maybe in the vicinity of $1.5 billion a year right now. They`re losing money. The more people they carry, the more money they lose.
BECK: How does that -- hang on. I`m trying to understand the physics of that. How do you lose more money when you have more customers?
ISTOOK: Well, because the customers aren`t paying the full cost of their fare. Depending upon, you know, which route it is, the time of day, the customer may be paying half the cost of what it takes to transport them. They may be carrying sometimes as little as 10 percent.
They`re never carrying the entire cost. So, the more people that Amtrak carries, the bigger subsidy they demand from you and me.
BECK: Tell me if this is true, the Sunset Limited which goes, I think, between, where, New Orleans and California, or something like that, it`s cheaper if the taxpayers would buy each of the passengers a first- class airline ticket?
ISTOOK: And they`d get there quicker.
BECK: That`s true?
ISTOOK: Yes, it`s true. But let me tell you about another one.
You`re talking about one that runs from New Orleans to California. There`s also one that runs from Florida to California. And every passenger, every mile, takes a 60 cents subsidy. And it runs about 2,400 miles, OK?
Sixty cents a mile for every passenger. But here`s the trick, Glenn. On the way, it goes through eight states and 39 cities. That`s what happens. Amtrak is an illustration of how people have their votes bought.
BECK: Yes.
ISTOOK: I don`t care how bad the bill is if there`s something in it for me that I can brag about back home.
BECK: Right.
ISTOOK: Amtrak operates in 48 of the lower states, all of them except Montana and South Dakota. And it`s not because they have a lot of traffic in those states. In some of them, you know, they may have a couple of hundred people a day. But that representative in that area says, I have done something for the local people, even though it`s not cost-effective, even though it doesn`t make sense, even though it just adds to our nation debt burden. Still, that seems to be all that some people care about.
BECK: All right.
ISTOOK: Amtrak is past masters (ph) at working the political process.
BECK: Does this scare the crap out of you that we`re talking now about the nationalization possibly of airlines, of our banking and financial sector? We have talked about our oil companies, health care. Good God, almighty, these are the people that are running Amtrak.
Does it scare you at all?
ISTOOK: Sure, that scares me. I mean, when you hear people like Maxine Waters saying let`s have government take over the refineries and the oil companies, yes, that scares me.
When you say, well, maybe the government ought to be controlling air travel, yes. I mean, rail transportation is the most expensive form to the taxpayers in the country.
They had a study that was done by the U.S. Department of Transportation, right? It showed that rail passengers got a $200 subsidy for every 1,000 miles they travel.
BECK: Ernest, thank you very much, man.
ISTOOK: Thanks, Glenn.
