The More They Spend, The More Things Stay the Same

Matthew Yglesias and Matthew Cameron are upset how Amtrak is over-paying for trains that will be obsolete. They are so upset, they think Amtrak should have more money. Wait, what?

Yglesias:

I don’t particularly want Amtrak to do more with less. I’d like it to do much more with more.

Cameron:

Matt made a good point over the weekend about the need for Amtrak to put its unfortunately meager budget to wiser use than purchasing expensive, soon-to-be-outdated locomotives.

"With more?" "Meager budget?" Perhaps instead of assuming Amtrak is underfunded while operating in this stifling bureaucracy (Cameron blames the Transportation Department for forcing Amtrak to spend the way it does), let's get the incentives right. If an organization's stupidly spending money, the answer is not to give them more. More money under a failed system is just more waste.