The limits of "loss per passenger," courtesy of Ford

The Ford Motor Company lost $5.8 billion in the third quarter of this year. The company planned to build 1.1 million vehicles in the quarter. So that's a "loss per car" of $5,500.

If you apply anti-Amtrak thinking to Ford, what should be your attitude? Don't buy a Ford! Because if you do, you've just caused the company to incur another $5,500 loss!

More bad news from the UK privatization experiment

GNER's parent company is filing for bankruptcy. The labor union RMT warns that GNER may have to cut up to 300 jobs.

What else might GNER cut?

The operating company's franchise agreement requires it to pay a fee to Her Majesty's Government--in other words, negative subsidy. In 2005-2006, GNER paid £68.8 million, about $120 million US. Your conductor speculates that GNER might well plead hardship and ask to be let out of that agreement. Unless, of course, it lobbies for the same deal as its next-door neighbor Virgin West Coast, which received £92.2 million.

GNER is already starting to make the case for hardship in this Aug. 11 release from Sea Containers, as well as this one. And the warning bells are clearly sounded in this release, in the ominous words "Looking ahead, GNER does face a number of challenges, which in the current financial environment need urgent attention."

Got all that? "Number of challenges," "current environment," "urgent attention." In the understated world of financial reporting, this means our hair is on fire. And all of this just 16 months into a brand-new 7-year franchise agreement.