Posted on 12/26/2020 1:15:52 PM PST by grundle
Amtrack, the government run passenger rail system, purchases soda for $3.40 per serving, and then resells it to customers for $2.00. So they are selling it at a loss. The taxpayers make up the difference.
Source: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/amtrak-lost-800m-on-cheeseburgers-and-soda
Meanwhile, McDonald’s purchases soda for 9 cents per serving, and then resells it to customers for $1.29. So they make a profit.
In my opinion, cutting taxes is better than having the government waste the taxpayers’ money.
Another scheme for dementia Joe.
Amtrak has been his baby for years.
No comment about the claims made? Just about the means of spreading it?
Common Core Math says they will make it up in volume.
Money is ending up in Congresscritter’s hands, bet on it.
From memory, personal income tax is a relatively small part of the Federal revenue stream. So, I don’t think that it will influence much of what they dol.
Federal Income tax is more about control of the people than money.
The Income Tax is also a way to extort campaign cash.
So, has there been any improvement in this? Back sliding? What's happened in the intervening 8 years? Come on, man, do some research here, contribute to the story.
U.S. federal tax revenue is the total tax receipts received by the federal government each year. Most of it is paid either through income taxes or payroll taxes. In fiscal year (FY) 2021, income taxes will account for 50%, payroll taxes make up 36%, and corporate taxes supply 7%. The rest is made up of estate taxes, excise and custom duties, and interest on the Federal Reserve’s holdings of U.S. Treasurys.
Half from personal income tax is not a trivial amount IMHO
https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-are-sources-revenue-federal-government
Okay I was wrong.
How about Medicare tax.
Amtrak is also the only corporation that can lose money selling booze.
And here you are whining, as if what’s posted on freerepublic is any of your business.
You so funny, Frankie.
If you follow the money this will make plenty of sense.
Amtrack, the government run passenger rail system, purchases soda for $3.40 per serving, and then resells it to customers for $2.00. Meanwhile, McDonald’s purchases soda for 9 cents per serving, and then resells it to customers for $1.29.
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Soon we will have the economy of the entire country performing like Amtrak and the Post Office. Won’t that be fun??
Try thinking about it this way.
The Federal government spends far more than they take in Taxes.
Borrowed money is their primary source of income.
Just as servicing the debt is quickly becoming the primary expenditure.
Remember: our federal government couldn’t make money running a whore house.
Literally, they tried to back in the day. In Nevada IIRC.
If our government wasn’t in charge who knows what it could do? Busses are by the ton transported inherently more expensive to operate per mile than trains, though they will always work much better where population densities are lower.
But where population densities are higher, and constrained geographically in some way so a large population can be served by relatively less infrastructure (and in places where tracks worth riding are already there) trains shouldn’t be a losing proposition.
I would guess that there just are not enough trains running to allow the departure and arrival schedules to be convenient enough for Amtrak to compete even where it might be able to do so.
And of course there are the cozy deals jacking up costs like the OP eludes to ... once again: I’d bet it’s going into Congresscritters’ accounts somewhere.
If government hadn’t been taxing and regulating passenger rail to death while subsidizing road and air based “competition”, it could have stayed in the private sector. A look at a map of intercity rail immediately before and immediately after Amtrak bears that out quite starkly.
Instead of deregulating, which would have allowed private-sector railroads to start rebuilding and increasing train speeds to competitive levels, Nixon created Amtrak.
“”Amazon.com is currently selling 24-packs of 12 ounce Pepsi cans for $8.94 — which averages to about 75 cents per can.””
We really want to trust this author?
They know they sell at a loss. This reeks of political favors and kickbacks and keeping a legitimately run railroad out of the way.
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I’ve used trains all over Europe, All of then provide excellent service and make a mockery out of Amtrak. The disparity is truly embarrassing!
Ding, ding, ding - we have a thread winnah!
They don’t borrow it any more. They stopped doing that years ago.
They create it via Modern Monetary Theory.
https://www.investopedia.com/modern-monetary-theory-mmt-4588060
It’s the “run it til it blows” theory of economics.
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