Private company closes for a month to avoid harming more consumers...

That seems like an odd headline, giving that any private company that was so plagued with problems that consumers literally risked death by using the product would soon find itself out of business. On the other hand, when the government provides a “service” it can provide its “customers” low quality, high prices, limited supply, and even put its customers in danger without suffering any negative consequences. In fact, oftentimes government-run enterprises are rewarded for their incompetence with budget increases! Case-in-point the Washington DC Subway system. DC subway system is plagued with breakdowns, delays, and even fires on a daily biases. Now DC Metro Board has come up with a great way to go a full month without service issues…..close down the subway (and ask for more money):

Metro’s top officials warned Wednesday that the transit system is in such need of repair that they might shut down entire rail lines for as long as six months for maintenance, potentially snarling thousands of daily commutes and worsening congestion in the already traffic-clogged region. Board Chairman Jack Evans and General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld put rail riders on notice about possible extended closures at a high-level conference of local leaders. The discussion also revealed strong resistance to what Evans said was a “dire” need for more than $1 billion a year in additional funding for Metro.

Read more here. Note the DC Metro Board is, in classic government fashion, claiming the solution to the problem lies in increased funding. Prediction: DC Metro will receive an increase in funding– courtesy of the American taxpayers, most of whom will never ride it–  in exchange for some meaningless “reforms” demanded by the so-called fiscal conservative Congress.