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Amtrak's FY 2008 Key Performance Numbers
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[quote user="Phoebe Vet"] <P><FONT color=#990000>Sam:</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#990000>As you can undoubtedly tell from our several conversations, I am not a fan of pure number crunching. I firmly believe that there comes a time when inteligence must trump pure numeral logic. Perhaps it is best described by the old evaluation of which is better, a watch that loses an hour a week or one that doesn't work at all. By pure number crunching, it is the one that doesn't work at all, because it is right twice a day whereas the one that loses an hour a week ... well, you get the picture.</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#990000>Europeans pay more of a tax burden than we do, but on the other hand, they get free medical care, and free college. We could lower our own tax burden a lot if we stopped putting such a huge portion of our assets into our military, and stopped sticking our nose into the business of other countries. France is building a 300 mile per hour train, we are building the largest most expensive ever aircraft carrier, the USS George Herbert Walker Bush. Germany and it's neighbors are building a multi country ICE high speed rail network. We are building 5 state of the art military bases and the largest in the world secure "embassey" in Iraq. Who is it that has the wrong fiscal priorities.</FONT></P> <P>[/quote]</P> <P mce_keep="true">Accounting, financial, and operating data, whether it is describing the current situation or projecting the results of a planned activity, is the most logical way I know of to frame the viability of a commercial operation. Accounting data is the language of business. Even Amtrak crunches the numbers as you put it.</P> <P mce_keep="true">Clearly, societies make value judgments that transcend the numbers. They engage in a variety of activities that don't produce a profit or breakeven. It is important, however, for the leaders to know how much an activity costs and what is driving the costs. I cannot think of a single government activity that does not have a budget and does not know how much it spends or what gives rise to the revenues.</P> <P mce_keep="true">If society wants to hoist a passenger rail system that does not cover its costs, it can do so. I have no quarrel with that. It is a value judgment. But putting its collective head in the sand, i.e. I don't want to know what my favorite activities costs, is irresponsible. I don't know of any society that does not want to know how much an activity costs.</P> <P mce_keep="true">Europeans don't get free medical care and free college. They pay for them through their taxes. Thus every taxpayer, irrespective of the extent to which he or she uses the services, pays for them. In this county we have decided to have a closer connection between who uses them and who pays for them. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone must pick up the tab. </P> <P mce_keep="true">The same thing applies to a commercial activity that does not cover its costs. If the users don't pay for it, someone else has to pick-up the check. In the case of Amtrak, it is the large number of taxpayers who do not or cannot use the trains for a variety of reasons. </P>
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