Money woes could threaten high-speed rail's future

Breitbart ^ | 2/2/10 | MICHAEL TARM

[Nachum]

CHICAGO (AP) - The $8 billion in stimulus cash awarded to 13 high-speed rail corridors across the country may seem like a windfall, but there's a catch. The money isn't enough to finish any of the major projects.

State coffers are dry and federal spending is being cut back. So, it's unclear who will pay the rest of the multi-billion dollar bill.

[Nachum]

The list, ping

[Jim Robinson]

High speed rail to the poor house.

[KarlInOhio]

The Ohio "high speed" route had a proposed speed of 85 MPH. Can people survive at such high speeds without having their lungs crushed?

[Izzy Dunne]

it's unclear who will pay the rest of the multi-billion dollar bill.

No, it's actually quite clear.

[ClearCase_guy]

A brilliant strategy. Fund half of a big project. Tie up money and resources. Drive up debt. Then pull the plug before it completes, so that no benefit can be derived from the effort.

If you wanted to cause damage, this would be a good way to do it.

Cloward-Piven?

[cripplecreek]

A whopping $40 million for Michigan. The rest is to come out of transportation funds. That won’t even pay for the lawsuits against the property siezures they’ll need to use.

Apparently roads are bad, magical trains that run on magic dust and fairy farts are good.

[Jim Robinson]

Not to worry. At Obama’s burn rate, the country will be broke long before construction even starts on this little boondoggle.

[WOBBLY BOB]

These little boondoggles eventually become big boondoggles.

[goldstategop]

Scam. High speed rail will never be built. And that's before project delays and cost overruns are factored in. Anything the government builds will be well beyond the initially projected costs.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus

[cripplecreek]

Exactly. In Michigan the feds give us $40 million and the state is using $230 million from transportation funds.

[Seaplaner]

The proposed price tag of the high-speed rail corridors is estimated to cost at least $60 billion, and possibly more than $100 billion over the next decade or two.

This is all so negative!

In fact, the bullet trains will pay for themselves, and the math is plainly evident on this.

All we need to do is to charge $100,000.00 per ticket for the first million riders, then raise rates slightly from there.

.

[goldstategop]

The real problem is ridership... I'd personally ride on since I don't want to deal with the airport security nightmare. Anything under four hours and a train ride is the ticket.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus

[Jim Robinson]

Well, my point was that Obama’s going to bankrupt us regardless of the size of this one particular boondoggle. He’s burning through trillions of dollars that no one has. We don’t have it and neither does China or anyone else. He’s burning through more capital than is available in the entire world.

[NormsRevenge]

agreed.

more than 1/3 of Obama’s budget is borrowed money.

where have we seen how successful running gubamint on borrowed money works?

That is not a trick question, btw. ;-)

[Jim Robinson]

Well, yeah, and that’s just the budget. How about the off budget trillions? The trillions being pumped in by the federal reserve? And the trillions in unfunded liabilities for social security and medicare and the federal guarantees they’re setting up to prop up the failing wall street financial institutions and fannie mae, freddie mac, and federally guaranteed mortgages and bank deposits, etc. And the hundreds of billions that the bankrupt states and cities will soon come coming begging for? The whole fricking financial house of cards is teetering and Obama is proposing going 14 trillion more in debt. These people are out of their ever lovin’ minds!! We’ve got the inmates running the asylum!!

[NormsRevenge]

These people are out of their ever lovin’ minds!!

—

Clinical diagnosis by qualified personnel would confirm that.

Must be something in the Tidal Basin water that addles their brains.

[Vaduz]

13 high-speed rail corridors across the country.Obama will say oh wait we need more nuclear power plants to power them,always keep an eye on his agenda list.

[WOBBLY BOB]

On that we both agree.

[razorback-bert]

Do you really think, there will be no security at train stations?