Even more evidence of government failure

[P@triot]

A report by the Government Accountability Office has revealed that taxpayer-funded Amtrak has lost more than $800 million in food and beverage sales over the last ten years, largely due to waste, theft, and a lack of proper oversight.

Report From the Government Accountability Office Reveals Amtrak Lost Over $800 Million Taxpayer Dollars on Food and Beverages in Ten Years | TheBlaze.com

 

[JakeStarkey]

Needs to be corrected.

 

[Full-Auto]

Needs to be corrected.

Any cut is extreme...............

 

[JoeB131]

A report by the Government Accountability Office has revealed that taxpayer-funded Amtrak has lost more than $800 million in food and beverage sales over the last ten years, largely due to waste, theft, and a lack of proper oversight.

Report From the Government Accountability Office Reveals Amtrak Lost Over $800 Million Taxpayer Dollars on Food and Beverages in Ten Years | TheBlaze.com

Sounds almost as bad as those $20.00 hamburgers Haliburton was charging for...

Investigating Halliburton

Halliburton has to pay the Pentagon for $27.4 million in overcharges for meals served to troops abroad. The company allegedly billed the government for meals that were never served to troops. Auditors are now looking into the company's food contracts at more than 50 other locations. [Source: LA Times, 2/3/04].

A Pentagon investigation is continuing after an audit found Halliburton overcharged the Army by $61 million for gasoline delivered to Iraq as part of its no-bid contract to help rebuild Iraq's oil industry. [Sources: LA Times, 2/3/04; AP, 12/12/03]

The Pentagon reported finding "blood all over the floor," "dirty pans," "dirty grills," "dirty salad bars" and "rotting meats ... and vegetables" in four of the military messes the company operates in Iraq. [Source: AFP, 12/14/03]

Ah, yes, that private sector efficiency we've heard so much about.

 

[bripat9643]

Ah, yes, that private sector efficiency we've heard so much about.

Only the government allows itself to be ripped off in such fashion, and turds like you blame it on the private sector.

 

[JoeB131]

Ah, yes, that private sector efficiency we've heard so much about.

Only the government allows itself to be ripped off in such fashion, and turds like you blame it on the private sector.

Uh, yeah, actually, I do.

The government was fighting a war and trying to make sure that the troops got what they needed.

Halliburton gave them substandard food, polluted water, faulty electricity in the barracks, and charged the government through the nose for it.

And oddly, who was Halliburton's ex-CEO? Dick Cheney.

 

[IGetItAlready]

A report by the Government Accountability Office has revealed that taxpayer-funded Amtrak has lost more than $800 million in food and beverage sales over the last ten years, largely due to waste, theft, and a lack of proper oversight.

Report From the Government Accountability Office Reveals Amtrak Lost Over $800 Million Taxpayer Dollars on Food and Beverages in Ten Years | TheBlaze.com

Sounds almost as bad as those $20.00 hamburgers Haliburton was charging for...

Investigating Halliburton

Halliburton has to pay the Pentagon for $27.4 million in overcharges for meals served to troops abroad. The company allegedly billed the government for meals that were never served to troops. Auditors are now looking into the company's food contracts at more than 50 other locations. [Source: LA Times, 2/3/04].

A Pentagon investigation is continuing after an audit found Halliburton overcharged the Army by $61 million for gasoline delivered to Iraq as part of its no-bid contract to help rebuild Iraq's oil industry. [Sources: LA Times, 2/3/04; AP, 12/12/03]

The Pentagon reported finding "blood all over the floor," "dirty pans," "dirty grills," "dirty salad bars" and "rotting meats ... and vegetables" in four of the military messes the company operates in Iraq. [Source: AFP, 12/14/03]

Ah, yes, that private sector efficiency we've heard so much about.

Thing is, when the private sector is busted the issue is addressed as your link demonstrates.

 

[Full-Auto]

Ah, yes, that private sector efficiency we've heard so much about.

Only the government allows itself to be ripped off in such fashion, and turds like you blame it on the private sector.

Uh, yeah, actually, I do.

The government was fighting a war and trying to make sure that the troops got what they needed.

Halliburton gave them substandard food, polluted water, faulty electricity in the barracks, and charged the government through the nose for it.

And oddly, who was Halliburton's ex-CEO? Dick Cheney.

Ah guilt by association.


With you being the type of repub you are...No wonder that side has gotten their asses kicked over the last century......... The abuses should be prosecuted. But each party in its unique way contributed to that no bid status.

 

[JoeB131]

Only the government allows itself to be ripped off in such fashion, and turds like you blame it on the private sector.

Uh, yeah, actually, I do.

The government was fighting a war and trying to make sure that the troops got what they needed.

Halliburton gave them substandard food, polluted water, faulty electricity in the barracks, and charged the government through the nose for it.

And oddly, who was Halliburton's ex-CEO? Dick Cheney.

Ah guilt by association.


With you being the type of repub you are...No wonder that side has gotten their asses kicked over the last century......... The abuses should be prosecuted. But each party in its unique way contributed to that no bid status.

Yes, they did. But you know what the real source of the problem is.

The Army never should have HAD to have gotten these outside contractors. They should have done what we did in every other war we fought- start a draft, put enough warm bodies in uniform to provide the service and support functions the army needs to fight in the field.

But that would be politically unpopular. So let's subcontract out to an outfit like Halliburton. We didn't even count their dead employees as part of the official death toll in Iraq.

Hey, also, we have this story.

Former Halliburton Employee Jamie Leigh Jones Testifies Before Senate on Rape Case - ABC News

Jamie Leigh Jones was a 20-year-old young woman working her fourth day on the job in Baghdad for contractor Halliburton/KBR in 2005, when she says she was drugged and gang-raped by seven U.S contractors and held captive by two KBR guards in a shipping container. But more than four years after the alleged crimes occurred, Jones is still waiting for her day in court because when she signed her employment contract, she lost her rights to a jury trial and, instead, was forced into having her claims decided through secret, binding arbitration.

 

[JoeB131]

A report by the Government Accountability Office has revealed that taxpayer-funded Amtrak has lost more than $800 million in food and beverage sales over the last ten years, largely due to waste, theft, and a lack of proper oversight.

Report From the Government Accountability Office Reveals Amtrak Lost Over $800 Million Taxpayer Dollars on Food and Beverages in Ten Years | TheBlaze.com

Sounds almost as bad as those $20.00 hamburgers Haliburton was charging for...

Investigating Halliburton

Halliburton has to pay the Pentagon for $27.4 million in overcharges for meals served to troops abroad. The company allegedly billed the government for meals that were never served to troops. Auditors are now looking into the company's food contracts at more than 50 other locations. [Source: LA Times, 2/3/04].

A Pentagon investigation is continuing after an audit found Halliburton overcharged the Army by $61 million for gasoline delivered to Iraq as part of its no-bid contract to help rebuild Iraq's oil industry. [Sources: LA Times, 2/3/04; AP, 12/12/03]

The Pentagon reported finding "blood all over the floor," "dirty pans," "dirty grills," "dirty salad bars" and "rotting meats ... and vegetables" in four of the military messes the company operates in Iraq. [Source: AFP, 12/14/03]

Ah, yes, that private sector efficiency we've heard so much about.

Thing is, when the private sector is busted the issue is addressed as your link demonstrates.

Sounds to me like they are addressing the AmTrak stuff, too.

 

[IGetItAlready]

Sounds almost as bad as those $20.00 hamburgers Haliburton was charging for...

Investigating Halliburton





Ah, yes, that private sector efficiency we've heard so much about.

Thing is, when the private sector is busted the issue is addressed as your link demonstrates.

Sounds to me like they are addressing the AmTrak stuff, too.

Last I heard AMTRAK has been synonymous with waste and government failure for years.
I'm actually kind of surprised to see anyone even bother reporting on it anymore.

 

[JoeB131]

Last I heard AMTRAK has been synonymous with waste and government failure for years.
I'm actually kind of surprised to see anyone even bother reporting on it anymore.

I guess it's a matter of whether or not you think this should be a public service or a business.

Amtrak provides a service- providing low cost alternative to air-travel. which for some people, is a real benefit.

But here's the thing, the airlines provide the same service, but they couldn't exist without government funded airports, air traffice control system, the TSA, the Air Marshall's service, and so on.

I remember after 9/11 how popular AmTrak became for a few months.

 

[IGetItAlready]

Last I heard AMTRAK has been synonymous with waste and government failure for years.
I'm actually kind of surprised to see anyone even bother reporting on it anymore.

I guess it's a matter of whether or not you think this should be a public service or a business.

Amtrak provides a service- providing low cost alternative to air-travel. which for some people, is a real benefit.

But here's the thing, the airlines provide the same service, but they couldn't exist without government funded airports, air traffice control system, the TSA, the Air Marshall's service, and so on.

I remember after 9/11 how popular AmTrak became for a few months.

I've made two round trips between the West Coast and Midwest on Amtrak.
In one trip we made an unscheduled stop in goat patch Wyoming so that police could arrest someone on the train and it took so long to get to my destination that by the time I arrived I had forgotten why I had gone.
The Observation Car through the Sierras was pretty cool but not something I ever look forward to doing again.

In both trips I'm quite sure I spent the difference in the cost of flying on the food...and the feds are losing their asses on food sales...
Just sayin'...

 

[JoeB131]

Last I heard AMTRAK has been synonymous with waste and government failure for years.
I'm actually kind of surprised to see anyone even bother reporting on it anymore.

I guess it's a matter of whether or not you think this should be a public service or a business.

Amtrak provides a service- providing low cost alternative to air-travel. which for some people, is a real benefit.

But here's the thing, the airlines provide the same service, but they couldn't exist without government funded airports, air traffice control system, the TSA, the Air Marshall's service, and so on.

I remember after 9/11 how popular AmTrak became for a few months.

I've made two round trips between the West Coast and Midwest on Amtrak.
In one trip we made an unscheduled stop in goat patch Wyoming so that police could arrest someone on the train and it took so long to get to my destination that by the time I arrived I had forgotten why I had gone.
The Observation Car through the Sierras was pretty cool but not something I ever look forward to doing again.

In both trips I'm quite sure I spent the difference in the cost of flying on the food...and the feds are losing their asses on food sales...
Just sayin'...

You're sure?

I'll be honest, a trip to the West Coast doesn't seem like it would be practical on Amtrak. I'll give you that one. Of course, if we invested in high-speed rail like Japan and Europe have, it might be. I know this is anethma to the Mr. Potter wing of the GOP, which just doesn't see a virtue in a thing if an asshole doesn't get rich.

For the food thing, I'm not finding anything that can tell me WHY Amtrak is losing money on food. I'm guessing it's a storage/resupply thing, but I'm not finding anything on it.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Yup, Barclay's and J. P. Morgan's errors were caused by the government.

Ah, yes, that private sector efficiency we've heard so much about.

Only the government allows itself to be ripped off in such fashion, and turds like you blame it on the private sector.

 

[blastoff]

Rode an Amtrak from Montana to Chicago about 5 years ago. Every car (of which there were too many IMO) only had a handful of people so I asked a conductor I'd gotten friendly with if that train's load was typical on that run (Seattle to Chicago). He said it's always that way except around T-giving and Christmas. And he added it's the same on the Chicago to Seattle runs too, yet every day of the week an Amtrak leaves both cites bound for the other.

Seems to me they've honed losing money to a science.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Bripat, please answer or tell us why you can't.

Yup, Barclay's and J. P. Morgan's errors were caused by the government.

Ah, yes, that private sector efficiency we've heard so much about.

Only the government allows itself to be ripped off in such fashion, and turds like you blame it on the private sector.

 

[JoeB131]

Rode an Amtrak from Montana to Chicago about 5 years ago. Every car (of which there were too many IMO) only had a handful of people so I asked a conductor I'd gotten friendly with if that train's load was typical on that run (Seattle to Chicago). He said it's always that way except around T-giving and Christmas. And he added it's the same on the Chicago to Seattle runs too, yet every day of the week an Amtrak leaves both cites bound for the other.

Seems to me they've honed losing money to a science.

This is a reasonable argument.

The advantage of AmTrak is that it runs at a subsidized price for poor people who don't have cars that can travel long distances or can afford airflight.

The disadvantage is that it's painfully slow as a method of transport. Matching amount of runs to volume would seem the thing to do.

Now, where I concede the conservatives might have a point, they thing needs to be run more like a business and less like a service. I would say the same of the post office. But it should still be available as a service.

 

[P@triot]

Dear Taxpayer,

Robot dragons, video games, Christmas trees, snow cone machines, and chocolate.
This is not a Christmas wish list. These are just some of the ways the federal government spent your tax dollars this year.

http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public...&File_id=b69a6ebd-7ebe-41b7-bb03-c25a5e194365

 

[P@triot]

Congress deadlocked over whether or not savings could be found by closing loopholes within the complex tax code. Meanwhile, the IRS approved roughly $1 billion in tax credits intended for energy efficiency home improvements to individuals who did not even own a house. These recipients included prisoners and children, some probably not even old enough to own a doll house.

http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public...&File_id=b69a6ebd-7ebe-41b7-bb03-c25a5e194365