Posted on 07/14/2012 2:47:45 AM PDT by Olog-hai
California is broke and broken. Its freeways and roads are crumbling. Many cities—like Stockton, which declared bankruptcy two weeks ago—are straining under hundreds of millions in bond debt and unfunded pensions for retired public workers.
In the face of a slow-motion fiscal train wreck, why would state lawmakers commit to spending $5.8 billion in state and federal funds on the first phase of a high-speed rail line that practically nobody wants in part of the state where practically nobody lives?
The state Senate on Friday narrowly approved legislation to start work on a 130-mile stretch of rail between Madera and Bakersfield, where a tiny fraction of Californians live and work—mostly on farms. …
Yet the best explanation may be the Obama administration’s desperation for a win. The US Department of Transportation thrust $3.5 billion in stimulus money into the state’s grubby hands (billions that Florida and Ohio wisely turned down) and said “build it.”
But the feds then told California to break ground on the project this year—or lose the cash. …
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
It’s not even worth discussing this piece of stupidity any more. There isn’t even the pretense that this isn’t a lame political boondoggle with zero economic or any other function. If, as I suspect, the entire project is abandoned after this first phase is completed, it will still cost the state tens of millions annually just to maintain and police and self-insure the thing.
High speed rail is another code word in thier criminal program for BAILOUT!
Everybody knows this project will never be finished. This is just another attempt by Obama to funnel billions to State employee unions and union contractors while Obama is still in office. The icing on the cake is that I’m sure many political insiders will make millions on the property they’ve bought up along the proposed train route which will now be purchased by the state at a handsome mark-up.
All it does is line the pockets of RATS.
Our Governor here in Florida opted OUT of the funds. He saw the cost and the amount the feds would contribute. Once the money is accepted the feds won't let you out. Rick was smart to not accept the $$.
Democrats, keep spending until you can’t.
High speed rail is another code word in their criminal program for BAILOUT!
Amen! CRIMINAL STUPIDITY. The state assembly can only keep this up so long before the people get wise. So don’t let me down CA’s. Reject the “mother load”, and show some common sense.
It's outright criminal theft of tax payer funds!
Just like Soiledlyndra. A political money laundering funnel!
Decline - An organization enters the decline phase when it experiences continuous reduction in resources and revenue over a substantial period of time. Ironically, the decline can be recognized with certainty only when it is too late to recover from it, early signs are often mistaken to be temporary.
Idiocy at it’s utmost.
Maybe Hank Johnson was thinking of California instead of Guam.
And instead of tipping over from too much development, it’s going to tip over because of crushing debt.
Yep.
There is a train that runs I think in New Mexico that folks go out to and Moon it as it goes by.
Quite appropriate for the good folks of California to do likewise to this boondogle.
I think Arizona should have a high-speed mag-lift momnorail line between Page, AZ (look it up) and Flagstaff, AZ.
Oh, that’s right, they hate AZ, never mind.
I think Arizona should have a high-speed mag-lift monorail line between Page, AZ (look it up) and Flagstaff, AZ.
Oh, that’s right, they hate AZ, never mind.
Obama administration’s desperation for a win.
It’s as clear as it gets.
The area where this ‘high speed train’ construction is about to start is exactly where the water was taken from farmers 2 years ago.
Now, land that was worth as much as $50,000 +++ per acre because of it’s ability to grow FOOD is now worth nearly nothing.
The state will push emminent domain on purchasing such lands & will do it at a pittance. Farmer’s will be bankrupt. Unemployment in that region is already above 40%.
Warren Buffett bought controlling interest in the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad a couple of years back.
ALL the renderings of the high speed trains are in the colors of the BNSF. Coincidence?
I don’t think so.
I say connect the dots.
Robert Kennedy Jr was the head of the Greenie group that sued to shut off the water to the farmers & let it go into the waters where the Delta Smelt live. NOT a native fish & has NO commercial value.
Federal judge shuts off the water.
Land is dry- orchards are torn down, etc.
Seems the farmers actually cleared the land for the high speed rail.
Meanwhile, California is broke and broken.
Anyone who keeps staying there in the face of what is surely coming is deserving of their own personal results.
Obama administration’s desperation for a win.
It’s as clear as it gets.
It's like if the boat has a hole in it, and everyone votes to throw the buckets over the side.
It's like the plane is on fire and going down, and all the passengers vote to throw the parachutes out to lighten the plane.
It's like the trek acrss the desert if getting dire, so the wagon train pours all of its water in a ditch.
Californian liberals aren't just suicidal - they're perversely suicidal. They are the sickest, most twisted excuses for human beings ever to walk the earth. They make cowards look like heroes in comparison to them. They make Hitler look like Lincoln in comparison to them. They make dog crap thrown over a cliff on fire splatting on the head of a dead fish on a poisonous beach, look like creme de caramel with mocha drizzles over handmade french vanilla ice cream.
I hope that was clear.
“In the face of a slow-motion fiscal train wreck, why would state lawmakers commit to spending $5.8 billion in state and federal funds on the first phase of a high-speed rail line that practically nobody wants in part of the state where practically nobody lives?”
Because that’s the same methodology that got the US Interstate Highway System built. You build in the rural areas first because its cheaper and then you connect the cities. Because when the US Route System was built it was typical for cities to sport nice parkways that led to two-lane and even gravel roads at the county line.
If HSR is built in the urban areas first then it’ll just be a patchwork of local systems that don’t connect to anything and the system won’t address the problems of ever-more crowded airports and freeways.
I know a lot of people hate HSR *even when it is privately funded* as it was in Texas when it was first proposed, but in California the thing is that no new freeways are going to built and the politicians want to CLOSE at least two airports in Southern California, not build new ones. With that state’s population projected to hit fifty million in fifteen years there’s got to be a way to move them all around. Rail wins by default.
I agree that it is not the best choice, but the ‘best’ choice won’t happen because of the politics in this country and, in particular, California.
Southwest Airlines is spending millions to lobby against this project just like they did with the private Texas project because they see it as competition. Much of the anti-rail screeds I see anymore no doubt source from SWA given that they sound like talking points from the Democrats.
For instance, calling the first stage of construction a ‘train to nowhere’ as if it will be the only stage ever built. Was I-70 in rural Kansas and rural Missouri a ‘road to nowhere’ when it became the first Interstate to be constructed? Or was it just the first part of a much larger project that took over forty years to complete?
The objection that rail will cost too much when California is already broke? Well, at least it is something tangible the taxpayers will have as opposed to more money for teachers pensions and more money for illegal aliens to attend college for free.
My favorite talking point is the repeated use of the word ‘Boondoggle’. At this point anyone who uses that word is just a braying ass who can’t come up with their own ideas so they just bray “BOONDOGGLE!!!” as if that makes them sound intelligent. If all you got to argue against this project is one word then please STFU and allow more intelligent people to make an intelligent argument against the project.
By the way, a French firm recently offered to take over the project and to build it with their own money if the route would be shifted from the eastern side of the San Joaquin Valley to the western side, which would be more direct and save about $30 billion dollars. The politicians, Republican and Democrat, objected because too many of them have schemed to have the project run across their properties along Hwy 99 so they can screw the taxpayers out of more money.
The question here is not about whether or not it should be built, but why we’re not letting the French build it on their own and where they want to? And barring the French, why isn’t the state of California insisting on building it where it will save $30 billion dollars?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.