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[quote user="John WR"] I don't want to be defensive about Amtrak or Joe Boardman, Sam.  I worked too many years for the the government not to know that no agency is above criticism.    But if by "trumpets" you mean Amtrak issues news releases about its successes, well every organization, private and public does that.  In fact I think we should expect Amtrak to make an aggressive effort to recruit customers.  Certainly, bus companies, airlines and every other kind of transportation does.  If Amtrak didn't do the same it would be open to the criticism that management just wants to sit back, do nothing and let the government subsidies roll in.   At the same time Amtrak does publish a lot of information that is just a few clicks away on the internet.  Even you have commented about that.  And you don't need to make a FOIA request to get it.  Beyond that, a lot of information which is closely guarded and not released in the private sector is routinely released by government agencies.  So I think Amtrak does does disclose the information you call for. When it comes to subsidy for rail transportation the anti subsidy movement has existed since the 1870's.  Sometimes it has been stronger and sometimes weaker.  Right now I think it is relatively strong.  But the real issue is should we subsidize rail transportation.  If we do we will keep it; if we don't we will loose all or almost all of it.  The question has no really objective answer; it depends on the kind of society we wish to be and that is a value judgement.   At least that is the way I see it.   John [/quote] I disagree.  People or organizations who report numbers should present the whole picture, i.e. ridership, revenues, costs, etc.  I read the financial press every day. This is how financial data is presented; it is not just half of the equation.
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