Speaking of high-speed rail – How do you like government as “transformer”?

The Orange County Register blog Orange Punch ^ | 3-8-2012 | Mark Landsbaum

[landsbaum]

The Los Angeles Times has a news story today about the Moonbeam Express, as we like to call it. Sometimes known as the California High-Speed Rail.

The Times sub-headline says: “The high-speed rail line would transform California lifestyles for the better, backers say.”

We couldn’t have said it better. There, in one concise sentence, is the problem. . .

The problem with that is the train’s backers are almost exclusively agents of your government, a coercive group that doesn’t persuade, it, well, coerces. The government wants to transform your lifestyle. . .

[humblegunner]

(Excerpt) Read more at orangepunch.ocregister.com ...

Nah, I'll pass.

Can you summarize?

[Loyal Buckeye]

High Speed Rail = A train wreck

[ryan71]

Politicians love to allocate money for programs. Most programs are simply fronts that allow them to get to the money, to skim it, to give it to their supporters who in turn, give it right back.

[ryan71]

Politicians love to allocate money for programs. Most programs are simply fronts that allow them to get to the money, to skim it, to give it to their supporters who in turn, give it right back.

[MeganC]

And where was the Orange County Register when a Republican started a program that cost billions and began with a four lane superhighway built in rural Kansas and Missouri?

Was that a boondoggle? Was the government coercing people from speedy, comfortable, and privately operated passenger trains onto government subsidized Interstate highways at the behest of the oil companies and auto manufacturers who were later convicted of a conspiracy to end privately operated public transit systems?

High speed rail *could* be privately run - like it almost was in Texas - but the lawsuit industry has effectively made such private enterprises impossible. So, like highways and airports, high speed rail can only be built by government. That’s not to say it can’t later be privatized just like some Interstate highways were.

[IDFbunny]

Road building is a legitimate government function to foster commerce. And building a high speed rail is adding value for the tax dollar unlike entitlements.

[KevinDavis]

You are forgetting one thing PASSENGER RAIL IN AMERICA IS DEAD!!!!

[MeganC]

“You are forgetting one thing PASSENGER RAIL IN AMERICA IS DEAD!!!!”

Seems a few million people didn’t get that memo.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-03-12/public-transit-ridership-up/53490166/1

[MeganC]

“You are forgetting one thing PASSENGER RAIL IN AMERICA IS DEAD!!!!”

Seems a few million people didn’t get that memo.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-03-12/public-transit-ridership-up/53490166/1

[KevinDavis]

That is only public transport.. Why does Amtrak still need subsidies to survive??