[PRCo] Re: I was in USA!

[James B. Holland]

Your assessment of  *Government__Operated__Agencies*  is  NOthing more 
than personal opinion // conclusions;  I-F  it was really that bad, then 
the USA would have been down and out Very Long Ago.       """Everybody 
knows it's this way"""   is the best evidence to support such 
accusations and that would absolutely never ever hold up in court.

Transit Agencies were on a downhill slide starting in the 1920s and that 
slide greatly accelerated post WW2 with Very Wide Spread auto 
usage.       Transit agencies were struggling but the thought of the day 
in the 1940s and 1950s was that Private Transit Agencies were not able 
to make it work so it was necessary to take them public  --  into govt. 
sector.       AND__Today  the cry is:   govt. transit agencies don't 
work  --  Privatize__Them!

What people fail to realize is that it is  NOT  the system  --  it is 
the people behind the system.       A case in Point  --  How Many Times 
Have We Heard That:       """Money Is The Root Of All Evil?"""

WRONG!!!!!!!       The above is a misquote  --  it is the  LOVE  of 
money that is the root of all evil  --  it is human altitude toward 
money that is evil  --  Not Money Itself.       Nothing Inherently Evil 
in Private Enterprize, Socialism, and many other forms of society  --  
it is just the people behind the same that make it work // fail.

And to really level the playing field, It Is Written that all our 
righteousness [goodness] is like filthy rags  --  and the word 
translated  *rags*  is  *Menstrual__rags*  in the original 
language.       Humans measure goodness relative to one another so in 
reality, some may not be  *As__Bad__As*  others but the human condition 
is still desperately wanting.       It is Not Just The Politicians  --  
all are subject to the same temptations  --  put any one of us in there 
and watch what happens over time.

Remember  --  in the USA the govt. is:::::::

""".......Of__The__People.......

By__The__People.......

For__The__People."""

The People Are The Govt  --  The People Are The Problem.


Jim__Holland



Fred Schneider wrote:

>I think you are comparing private enterprise to a government authority.  This is
>unfair in this instance because there is no commonality between the two just
>because they are in the United States.   You should not compare the U. S. to the
>Czech Republic; you need to compare private and government businesses in the U.
>S. without any regard whatsoever to how something is done in Europe.  U. S.
>governmental transit agencies also behave very differently from those in Europe.
>Private corporations borrowed money (stocks, bonds) to build a line, and
>hopefully earned enough money by operating that line to cover all operating
>expenses and to pay back all the loans.  It did not, in actuality, work that
>way.  The totals for all the companies in Pennsylvania showed they had  enough
>money at the end of the year to pay bills on hand at the end of the year in only
>four of the fifty-one years from 1900 to 1950.  But they were at least set up
>with the idea that they would pay their bills.  And they either controlled their
>expenses (labor, materials, interest, capital repayments, insurance, taxes and
>so forth) or they went out of business.  And one way you controlled costs was by
>not fixing things that didn't show.  You also didn't fix things on cars that you
>planned to retire.  And by the time 1138 was retired, business was declining
>rapidly enough that the railways company had a surplus of PCC cars and could ill
>afford to waste money on any of the older ones.  We knew they were rusted then.
>So did the railways company.  And Pullman Standard came in to Pittsburgh in the
>early 1960s to assess a proposal to make double-end PCCs for emergencies; my
>friend with the P-S told me then that only the 1700s were good enough to invest
>money into and then they were only marginally good enough.
>
>Government operated agencies exist for the benefit neither of the governed nor
>the users but to provide jobs for important government people and to provide a
>conduit through which money is moved to support those people more deserving of
>it than you or I.  It is not important if the people in the shops are working or
>are not working.  What is important is that they or their union contribute money
>to the politicians' reelection funds, that the equipment builders and other
>contractors also contribute money.  It is important to the local politicians
>that they control this huge agency that buys labor and materials and issues
>contracts to consultants, car rebuilders, track rebuilders, and so forth in
>order that some of that money might come back to the elected officials.  It is
>not called a bribe.  It is called a contribution to the reelection campaign.
>
>One person on another list opined today that MBTA in Boston does not want to
>have anything photographed because it might show someone doing nothing.  And he
>went on to relate an incident during his tenure when a mechanic at Mattapan came
>to work drunk, watched television all day while he continued to drink.  His
>successor came in that afternoon and found that he had to repair five dead PCCs
>in time for the evening rush.  He got a hammer and broke up the television set.
>The incident turned into a fist fight.  Both were fired.  Then the governor of
>the Commonwealth of Massachusetts order the MBTA to reinstate both to their jobs
>(places to sit and collect money?).  Just maybe the order happened because the
>transport workers union had passed a half million dollars into the governor's
>reelection fund?  That was the suggestion I read today.  In Boston, the union
>and the politicos run the show.  Obviously it wasn't the public or they would
>not have gotten away with shutting down all the train service to the north and
>all subway service to North Station last week during the Democratic convention,
>and then running special trains from North Station and the end of the convention
>each night.
>
>Virtually all of the major government owned transit authorities in the United
>States were formed with in a very short time span in the late 1960s and early
>1970s.  It probably would not have happened if government had to make money.
>But I feel that this happened as fast as it did simply because the politicians
>were totally aware of the value of the money they would control and what it
>would buy them.
>
>The private and government systems are totally different ... one had to make
>money to survive and the government agencies have the right to pick our pockets
>to pay the people who do nothing.
>
>And do the workers care as you suggested?  My feeling is that about 9 workers
>out of 10 do not care about their jobs.  Only about one out of ten like what
>they are doing, and would be happy to be there even without the money.  But in
>the case of the Adtranz people at Elmira who worked on PRC 1138 and 1711 and PTC
>2711, they were the good people that Adtranz wanted to maintain in case they
>were able to win the next bid.  The others were gone and the plant was mostly
>empty.   I remember taking a load of truck parts for 1138 up to Elmira and being
>shown around.  I was incredibly impressed by the people who were doing the body
>work ... one of those men was welding new steel into 1138, grinding down the
>welds, and finishing it to a level of perfection unheard of for streetcar work.
>Certainly PRC could not have invested that time.  I found out that he had
>previously worked in an autobody repair shop.  And if I was lucky enough to have
>a 1930 Packard auto needing restoration, I would want him to do it.  I'm pretty
>sure they [Adtranz]  either bid or were considering a bid on the 18 rebuilt cars
>for SEPTA.  However, that plant was closed when Bombardier acquired Adtranz.
>
>
>Boris Cefer wrote:
>
>  
>
>>My experience says that no supervision is absolute. In addition, all people
>>like to make their job easier; some more, some less. Some even don't care
>>about results of their job. They don't care if something is done precisely
>>and thoroughly, or it is botched. I think that workmanship almost
>>disappeared from this world and only hobbyists dispose it. All is only job.
>>
>>I failed to understand Economics 101. OK. But I expected that working morals
>>has to be better in the USA than here because you seem to have better
>>economical results as a whole country.
>>I was again wrong. At shops in Philadelphia I didn't see many people
>>working, they were mostly sitting and talking about what they will do after
>>the shift ends in hour.
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Fred Schneider"
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Your opinion is wrong.  They [Adtranz] did what they were told to do,
>>>      
>>>
>>under supervision from PTM.  I did not use the world asbestos ... you did.
>>But that was the issue.  Asbestos presents legal issues and its presence
>>causes the workers to follow legal and very expensive requirements for its
>>removal,, regardless of your opinion.   We are dealing with United States
>>and New York State and Pennsylvania health and safety laws.
>>    
>>
>>>To make profits as high as possible is correct as far as you have taken it
>>>      
>>>
>>... more correct would be to say to make any profit at all.  The money
>>simply wasn't there to make cars look nice.  The city made every effort
>>possible to control Pittsburgh Railways' income and in the 1960s to make
>>them loose money so that the county could condemn the private company at a
>>lower cost.   I think you fail to understand Economics 101 as it applies to
>>business in a free world economy.
>>    
>>