Posted on 11/27/2011 3:15:47 PM PST by goldstategop
he pro-train constituency has not been derailed by a state report this month that found the cost of the bullet train tripling to $98 billion for a project that would not be finished until 2033, by news that Republicans in Congress are close to eliminating federal high-speed rail financing this year, by opposition from California farmers and landowners upset about tracks tearing through their communities or by questions about how much the state or private businesses will be able to contribute.
The project has been mocked by editorial boards across the country — “Somebody please stop this train,” The Washington Post wrote — while Republicans here have denounced it as a waste. In an unfortunate turn of timing, state officials announced this month that revenues this year were so far behind projections that California was likely to have to impose $2 billion in cuts in January.
“This will go down in history as one of the great white elephants in California history,” said Bob Dutton, the Republican leader of the State Senate. “It’s a boondoggle. The state cannot afford it.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The folks who remain pro-train (THIS train, anyway) are those who corruptly stand to benefit, and/or those who “ain’t payin’ much in taxes ANYway, so why not.” What a waste of MY money.
The White Elephant Express now crossing the Taxpayer Memorial Bridge...
Not exactly. The kind of riders attracted to this train are likely to be well-heeled professionals. That underscores what’s wrong with the assumption behind it: massive ridership. The ridership has to be artificially inflated to make the huge costs of constructing and operating it appear superficially plausible. But if the ridership is way below projected levels, its going to operate at a loss and not pay for itself from Day One. Oops! The market wouldn’t build it because it knows the bullet train is not a financially viable proposition. Politicians can and do disregard market realities because if it goes south, those who sponsored the project will be long dead and buried and the taxpayers can be expected to pick the tab for it. That’s exactly why its the wrong thing for California, given its current fiscal straits.
Visualize Californians swirling the toilet bowl while their leaders reach out again and again for the flush handle.
Visualize Californians swirling the toilet bowl while their leaders reach out again and again for the flush handle.
Visualize Californians swirling the toilet bowl while their leaders reach out again and again for the flush handle.
Visualize Californians swirling the toilet bowl while their leaders reach out again and again for the flush handle.
Visualize Californians swirling the toilet bowl while their leaders reach out again and again for the flush handle.
The first section of this monstrosity will run between Fresno to Bakersfield. Yeah, I can see those passengers just lining up for half a mile at the station, to get to those two towns. What a joke.
They can go faster by car. And you still need to arrange personal transportation at either end of your trip. At the top speed it would at best shave an hour off driving time but the problem remains that you still get someplace once you leave the train. Unless the proponents are going to tell us how they will solve that problem, it amounts to an expensive exercise in redundant gratification.
Sarah called it the “bullet train to bankruptcy”.
Is Dick Turban in line to get the cash to construct the aptly-named bullet train between New Fallujah and Rahmabad?
Not to worry, Moonbeam is on the job and if not stoned or drunk again, I’m sure he will stop this nonsense. But wait, how would you tell is Moonbeam was not stoned or drunk? Oh well, never mind.
I was including those well-heeled folks in the “corruptly stand to benefit” category, I should have explained. They know perfectly well it won’t work (at the price stated, by the time stated, with the safety promised, at the speed promised). But they take their six-figure salaries and keep quiet, knowing that, by the time the hoax is truly clear to more voters, they (the corrupt beneficiaries) will be retired and in Florida.
Uh, no. It's a real estate racket with big developers involved. The politicians are merely rising to the smell of money.
Here in Pittsburgh, they are digging a tunnel under a river to the North Side,disregarding the fact there are like 3 bridges already going to the North Side already.
the cost is millions of dollars. That money could have gone to fix the bus system that is drowning in red ink due to the unions.
Common sense is lacking in almost every form of government.
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