You can get $16 hamburgers at fancy restaurants, but it takes Big Government's Amtrak to sell hamburgers that cost that much AND incur a loss of $834 million over the past 10 years.
The secret? Amtrak sells microwaved burgers for $9.50, but pays out over $16 in food cost and labor:
Update 8/10/12: The story at NY Times | GAO Report (2005) | Amtrak's own report (2011)Amtrak spent $1.70 for every dollar it earned on food and beverage sales last year, leading to a loss of $84.5 million on the service, according to information provided to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee this week.
Committee Chairman John Mica (R-FL) blasted the “inefficient and wasteful” record of the nation’s rail line, pointing out the substantial cost to taxpayers occurring with each transaction.
“Over the last 10 years, these losses have amounted to a staggering $833.8 million,” said Mica. “It costs passengers $9.50 to buy a cheeseburger on Amtrak, but the cost to taxpayers is $16.15. Riders pay $2 for a Pepsi, but each of these sodas costs the U.S. Treasury $3.40.”
First, there are the number of inaccuracies in the first sentence - not so much that they are wrong, but they are designed to mislead people. The cost analogy to a restaurant implies that's what people pay - it's contradicted in the next paragraph. I would also note that referring to it as "Big Government's Amtrak" is a pretty short-sighted view of what Amtrak's purpose was and is. It was founded in 1971 to ensure that private companies no longer had to provide a vital service to America. It may have been an expansion of government services, but solely because freight railroads all but begged for its existence.
I would also note how much it astounds me that Neatorama - a blog I go to specifically for its lack of political proclivities - would link to an overt and avowed conservative blog, without noting it. This isn't an unbiased news article from a reputable news source - you could find just as many, I am sure, apologetic liberal blogs who would be able to blame these costs on something else.
All in all, I've been a devout Neatorama reader for more than five years. And this was my first time commenting - and it will likely be my last. This is reason enough for me to stay away.
We come to neatorama for fun and interesting posts; it's a way to relax. Please stop with the infuriating political posts.
It's also stupid to set up a false parallelism between public and private goods. Sure, we want a cheap burger on an Amtrak train. But we also want transparency so we know who the burger was purchased from. And we want equity so that the burger contract doesn't go to somebody's cousin. And we want the person who serves it to us to have a living wage. And we want the same from all of the equipment to prepare the burger (ok, it's a microwave, but I'm sure there is a "Buy American" provision). What I'm saying is, when the "government" sells you a burger, it's more than just a burger. The cost of that burger (both what the customer pays and what the taxpayer subsidizes) represents a whole host of other factors that aren't just the beef, cheese, and bread. Do fraud and waste make up a portion of the cost of that burger? No doubt, and I'm sure Amtrak is going to work on removing those, But we need to remember even then, the burger very well may still be more expensive than a McDonalds burger. Private good providers pay taxes (sometimes), but unless you are a shareholder, you don't really have any control on forcing McDonalds to provide all those other things. We're all shareholders in the government, so we use that share to advocate for the things we want to see our money go for.