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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by Poppa_Zit Giving this topic more thought, I think the one well-defined mission common to all government programs is to spend every penny in this year's budget -- whether necessary/wasteful or not -- so they don't cut next year's budget. Or even better, get more money allocated next year, thanks to a granted request for an increase. [/quote] Private enterprise is not much better. I've seen plenty of department managers in large corporations spend like crazy at year end because there's money left over in the budget and they don't want next years budget cut. Plus I don't think we can dismiss the health care companies and defense contractors role in government waste. The 'problem' with Amtrak and the USPS might be not enough lobbying $$$ coming back to DC. If Amtrak were privatized, would it be any different than Haliburton? Who really ends up getting the money from those earmarks? But since the topic is Illinois, IMO it's entirely likely that increased Amtrak service to Springfield is a bone to downstate in order to increase metro area funding. Illinois is a lot like DC, with 3 principle players who don't trust each other but do shift alliances as it suits them. The 3rd player is the collar county moderate pro-business Republicans. Both the CTA and Metra are looking for more funding, so the collar couties would ally with Chicago for funding. Adding something for downstate gets the downstate conservative Republicans onboard and doesn't hurt the Democratic governor either.
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