Every single time I hear Obama talking about high speed rail I keep hearing that song from The Simpsons in my head. "The Monorail!!! It put Ogdenville on the map!"
Can someone please explain to me what the thinking is behind this project? How is this going to help the economy?
Yeah, I get how $53 billion will be spent into our economy to build it, but that's a fake boost. That's all tax money.
Ok, it'll create jobs, but who pays their salary? Revenue from the monorail or the government?
And how many people will it take to run the monorail? I'm thinking a bunch of low paid conductors (like Homer) and a bunch of highly paid managers living off the government tit pretending to be important.
Who are they targeting as their consumer base? Where is the need for this service? Obviously airlines are having problems, but half of their problems are caused by the government and the TSA. And let's not pretend they won't want in on the monorail. The other half of the airlines' problems stem from their attempts to squeeze every cent out of people while giving them shittier and shittier service. Yet people are still flying, and it's statistically a safe form of travel, plus it's fast.
People also love to drive. Sure some hate commutes, but others love it, especially in this age of podcasts and audio books and a 24/7 lifestyle where people only seem to get privacy when they're in their car or the bathroom.
Did Amtrack go out of business or something? You know them right? A high speed rail service with the equipment and infrastructure to complete Obama's plan without spending $53 billion dollars...
And let's not forget buses! Who doesn't like to hang out at their local bus station? They're hip, clean, always in a great part of town, filled with the highest classes of society... Ok, maybe they're none of those things, but they're cheap. Slow, but cheap.
So where is the need for this high speed rail system? If we're going to spend $53 billion dollars, can we at least see a business plan showing all the research that's been done and the plan/time table to get that money back?
Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 12:49 pm
by Malcolm
Did Amtrack go out of business or something? You know them right? A high speed rail service
High-speed my ass. Eighteen hours to cross less than 1000 miles is slower than Ralph Wiggum huffing paint after a lobotomy. Passenger trains suck in this country. Soon as they start jacking up security on trains, though, it'll become just as unfun as flying.
I doubt he'll win his fight this way, but it's still interesting.
Oh, and check out this part of the article:
the overhaul is still the law, contends Timothy S. Jost, a professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law.
"This is one renegade judge that has reached this decision," he said, calling it an "extremist opinion," likely to be reversed on appeal.
First of all, two federal judges have struck down the law, not one. Secondly, "extremist opinion"? Really asshole? Polls show that the majority of Americans think the health care law is bullshit. On top of that, this "extremist opinion" by a "renegade judge" contends that the government has no right to force citizens to purchase health care just to fund health care for those who choose not to buy it or cannot buy it. Apparently, Mr. Jost thinks the government can order me to buy health insurance. What's next? Can I be ordered to buy an American car?
The Republican-controlled House voted to shield greenhouse-gas polluters...
Holy good goddamn. The first sentence?
Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 6:53 pm
by GORDON
Republican-controlled House actually responds to the will of the people who elected them, for a change.
Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 7:28 pm
by TPRJones
Well, it started to. Then the other Republicans turned chickenshit.
Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 7:57 pm
by Malcolm
TPRJones wrote:Well, it started to. Then the other Republicans turned chickenshit.
They're just worried about the same thing every member of Congres is worried about -- <s>representing those who elected them</s> getting reelected and keeping those kickbacks coming.