DEMOCRATS NEVER LOSE AN OPPORTUNITY

[La Li Lu Le Lo]

Democrats never lose an opportunity to capitalize on a tragedy to push their agendas.
 
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/amtrak-budget-house-panel-crash-117904.html
 
 
 
This is a more accurate picture of what Amtrak is REALLY about. Number 7 really hits the nail on the head.
 
http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2015/05/13/11-things-the-media-wont-tell-you-about-amtrak/

1. Amtrak Is Not Under-Funded, It Is Criminally Mismanaged

This one is for YOU Bears. Enjoy it.

 

[Ms Tree]

But the House proposal may face tougher sledding in the Senate, where transportation appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she hopes to set aside extra money for rail safety in her version of the funding bill. “We have had a lot of derailments,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of accidents. … So there are a lot of reasons for us to take a look at this.”

 

Even before Tuesday’s crash, the House’s cuts would have had a hard time getting through the Senate, where Republican lawmakers have been loath to approve budget cuts that could reduce or eliminate Amtrak service in their states. Red states would take the brunt of such cuts, since the Northeast Corridor is Amtrak’s most profitable segment.

 
 

The latest “report card” from the American Society of Civil Engineers gives the nation a D-plus on the state of its transportation infrastructure.
 

 

[delldude]

To quote Bluto Blutarssky,
 
Eat Me.
 
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/14/politics/amtrak-cuts-chris-coons-house-committee/
 
No chance gov't unionism at its finest just phucked up?

 

[La Li Lu Le Lo]

Whats wrong Bears? No comment?
 
The real train wreck is the way Amtrak is managed.
 
I would love nothing more than to see Amtrak go private and have to sustain itself and control its cost. 
 

No chance gov't unionism at its finest just phucked up?

 
Gov't unionism is nothing more than self funding for the Democrats. I support private UNIONS but gov't UNIONS should be abolished.  

 

[La Li Lu Le Lo]

Still no comment Bears?
 
Looks like your "gravy train" may have derailed.
 
Only a libtard would defend a business that has wasted hundreds of billions of dollars in tax payer money. 
 
 
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/amtrak-subsidies-is-no-way-run-railroad
 
"Since 1972 Amtrak has received more than $13 billion of federal subsidies. Twenty-five years later, Amtrak appears no closer to financial independence than the day taxpayer assistance began."
 
"In fact, it is now pressing for a half-cent of the federal gasoline tax in order to have a permanent umbilical cord to the federal treasury. That hardly seems fair, since people who pay the gasoline tax — that is, people who drive their cars — aren’t using Amtrak."
 
The above article was written in 1997....... 18 years ago..... and Amtrak is just as much of a parasite as it ever was.
 
For those of you not doing the math Amtrak has been helping itself to the United States Treasury for 43 years. It is time to bury Amtrak and it's dead business model. 

 

[Dog Wonder]

Still no comment Bears?
 
Looks like your "gravy train" may have derailed.
 
 

Bears retired from Amtrak.  Pay attention.

 

[southwind]

Bears retired from Amtrak.  Pay attention.

And how muck of his pension should he be thanking me for?

 

[La Li Lu Le Lo]

And how muck of his pension should he be thanking me for?

100%

 

[signals]

Yeah, there are no bad apples(or as I call them, F*C* UPS) in any non-union shops. 

 

[La Li Lu Le Lo]

Bears retired from Amtrak.  Pay attention.

Yes and he is collecting a nice pension courtesy of the tax payers. Pay attention.

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

And how muck of his pension should he be thanking me for?

 
 how......." M U C K " ....of his  pension......blah  blah blah ?
 
Did you save you diploma to prove you graduated from ELEMENTARY School ?

 

[Ms Tree]

 

Whats wrong Bears? No comment?
 
The real train wreck is the way Amtrak is managed.
 
I would love nothing more than to see Amtrak go private and have to sustain itself and control its cost. 
 

 
Gov't unionism is nothing more than self funding for the Democrats. I support private UNIONS but gov't UNIONS should be abolished.  

 

I do not think Amtrak could go private and survive any more than USPS could. That does not mean that Amtrak should go away. They are the only train service in the US. Public transportation in the US is practically non-existent when compared to other countries around the world. I think we should be looking into expanding the system and getting costs under control. Until ridership increases it will not make money. Ridership will not increase until service is more practical (I cannot get a train from here to Los Angeles or San Diego without having to over night and change trains) and costs are more reasonable. When we had the gas crunch a few years back rider ship on light rail and regular trains increased dramatically. It increased to the point where they had to increase the number of cars and add frequency.

I think it would be nice if this country would actually look ahead for once instead of focusing on the here and now. By the time we realize we need public transportation it is too late and to costly.

 

[La Li Lu Le Lo]

I do not think Amtrak could go private and survive any more than USPS could.

With never ending taxpayer subsidies where is their motivation to? Democrats love sinking money into Amtrak because the Amtrak UNIONS fund them and act as a propaganda machine for them. They will keep holding their hand out (with the Democrats blessing) as long as the American people will put up with it.
 

That does not mean that Amtrak should go away.

That does not mean people not using the service should have to pay for it either.
 

They are the only train service in the US. 

You think there might be a reason for that?
 

I think we should be looking into expanding the system and getting costs under control. Until ridership increases it will not make money. Ridership will not increase until service is more practical (I cannot get a train from here to Los Angeles or San Diego without having to over night and change trains) and costs are more reasonable.

Amtrak has proven to be a failed business model and you want to sink MORE money into it and expand it further in they hopes they will get their cost under control............ seriously?
 
Tree I might be able to subscribe to that if it had been 5 or maybe even 10 years but Amtrak has been failing for 43 at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars.
 

I think it would be nice if this country would actually look ahead for once instead of focusing on the here and now.

I am looking ahead..... I am looking at the billions of MORE dollars American taxpayers are going to sink into a failing business. 
 

By the time we realize we need public transportation it is too late and to costly.

By the time we realize we need public transportation the demand will actually be there to make it cost effective.
 
Comparing Amtrak to the USPS is a dead argument. Not everyone uses Amtrak but everyone pays for it.
 
I have issues with the USPS as well but that is for another day.

 

[Ms Tree]

Not sure what the alternative is.  Privatization is not the answer.  Look at USPS vs UPS, Fed Ex .. etc.  The private companies only serve areas that make a profit.  The USPS delivers everywhere.  Same would happen to Amtrak.
 
Yes they should.  I pay for public schools and a host of other services I do not use.  I'd say the odds are overwhelming that we will need public transportation.  I would be willing to bet that many people would love to take a short train or subway ride instead of sitting in traffic for an hour to get to work.  I'd much rather take a train to visit my folks in CA than get on a plane.  We can pay a little now or a lot later when we need it and it's too late to plan ahead. 
 
Yes because there are a lot of people like you who cannot see past today.  Look at cities like NY, SFO, Boston, DC .. who have excellent public transportation systems.  You think any of them would give it up?  I live 12 miles from DFW airport and there is no way for me to get to the airport.  It's not that it is inconvenient.  It cannot be done. 
Yes.  Broken things can be fixed.
 
Of course it has lost money.  It's route system is fairly small and it is not convenient to use.  Add to that the fact that we are addicted to our cars and there is no way Amtrak could succeed.  But again, we will need it.  Gas prices will go up.  It is a finite resource.  We continue to pollute the air we breathe.  Fixing it will be advantageous for all of us.
 
No you don't.  And it's more like trillions that would be needed to build up the infrastructure which if done right would be paid back multiple times over.
 
I disagree.  Meeting demand works well for a private business.  It would not work well for Amtrak because demand will not be there until the system is usable.  The demand will come after the system starts to grow. 
 
I have not used the USPS in several years.  I do my banking on line, pay my taxes on line.  I have checks that I ordered several years ago that I use a few times a year and that is mainly for birthdays and private contractors who I pay in person.  I think it is a perfect comparison.  I pay for a service that I do not use but it seems that you do.   Look at how much FedEx or UPS charge to deliver a letter compared to a first class letter with USPS for $0.49.
 
I have issues with them as well but I cannot figure out how to get mail to everyone in the US at $.49 a pop and make money off it.  Some things done by the Fed have not, do not and will not make money and that's how it needs/should be.   

 

[La Li Lu Le Lo]

For those of you not doing the math Amtrak has been helping itself to the United States Treasury for 43 years. It is time to bury Amtrak and it's dead business model.

As true today as the day I wrote it.

http://wjla.com/news/nation-world/whos-at-fault-in-amtrak-crash-amtrak-will-pay-regardless

But even if CSX should bear sole responsibility for the accident, Amtrak will likely end up paying crash victims' legal claims with public money.

Amtrak pays for accidents it didn't cause because of secretive agreements negotiated between the passenger rail company, which receives more than $1 billion annually in federal subsidies, and the private railroads, which own 97 percent of the tracks on which Amtrak travels.

Let me break it down for you leftist dummies. Amtrak is a lightning rod that protects the private railroads from liability using public money. Your tax dollars are paying for railroad negligence.

But hey, as long as some of that tax money goes toward over paid UNIONized employees funding the Democratic party through UNION dues robbing the taxpayers blind for 43 years is fine right?