Comments on: Time for Joe Biden to put a little ‘skin in the game’

By: fpete13527

fpete13527 — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 22:00:15 +0000

Definitive analysis for Florida by expert who worked extensively on rail projects in U.S. and around the world.

http://bit.ly/fdIMLw

By: fpete13527

fpete13527 — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:57:06 +0000

My friends have been telling me to write more on other topics than rail. I’m working on it. I keep trying to get away from it and Obama brings me right back to it.

I know one thing for sure. If Obama and Biden are this much for massive rail spending even now, it is probably worth writing about how bad it is 100 times a day.

I offer these links to give you some rock solid information why High Speed and Light Rail are as bad as can be.

Videos
http://bit.ly/bcZkz8
http://bit.ly/4rRl9H

MM Slams Biden’s latest idiotic statements
http://bit.ly/fMCNqL
http://bit.ly/geDZjw

Definitive Info. from two top experts Randall O’toole and Wendell Cox
http://bit.ly/bfdKAl
http://bit.ly/fdIMLw

By: melbedewy

melbedewy — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:12:12 +0000

Be on notice-we did NOT elect you to approve garbage like this or NoBama’s unemployment bailout. No More Bailouts. Period.

By: GreyCloak

GreyCloak — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 12:15:02 +0000

Over fifty years ago, I rode the train from Chicago to New York in eight hours. Today’s Amtrak trip takes 18 (if there are no delays). If I don’t mind a five a.m. flight (and the time it takes to get to the airport and through security), I can just barely make a nine a.m. meeting in Manhattan, from Chicago. I’d rather have the sleep, but trains are no longer an option.

Not long ago, I took a train from Brussels to London … it took about three hours, center to center. The ferry ride, alone, would have been longer.

While Europe, China, and Japan have adopted “bullet trains,” the US has no interest. Our entire nation is less than “second class” when it comes to trains.

Now, Amtrak is proposing to href=”http://www.app.com/article/CN/20110207/NJNEWS10/110207021/1024/NJNEWS11/Amtrak-announces-plans-new-Hudson-rail-tunnel?odyssey=mod|lateststories”>bail out Gov. Christie by taking on the $billions of over-runs on a Hudson River tunnel that he cancelled. Not a bad idea, but the whole “fast-rail” fix to fifty years of neglect will START out with $53 billion in new expense, of which the Northeast Corridor will get more than 20%, INCLUDING over-runs.

Congress and the IRS started this all, with favorable treatment for locomotives over tracks. Rather than spend public money, perhaps the Congress could just exempt railroads from twenty- or thirty- years of taxes on any high-speed rail project they and the public might desire. If we want it and can afford it, it will be done. If not, one more pork-barrel can be kicked into the ocean.

By: ohiohistorian

ohiohistorian — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 11:07:12 +0000

So send him a bill for the taxpayers’ share of his travel on the subsidized AMTRAK route. Maybe we could shut his mouth for a day or two.

By: jackhammer

jackhammer — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 10:36:39 +0000

In China!

Where there are 20 cities with each over 3 million people within 400 miles of each other.

I get on those trains all the time, and they cut a 4 hour drive down to a 1 hour train trip….amazing….and high speed rail has replaced the very inneficient planes that were cityhopping these routes.

I even take some high speed trains (although on average speed half that of china) in Germany, and for trips up to 4 hours they are a legitimate alternative to driving or flying a plane (again with $7 a gallo Gasoline)…but I can’t imagine getitng on anything over 4 hours, which in Gemrany brings me about 400 miles.

But in America we have busses for those who don’t want to spend a tonne of money, and planes for those who can afford it, and distances between cities that are huge…..

It is as much a way of throwing away money, now and in the future as ethanol subsidies….

By: Adjoran

Adjoran — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 08:02:57 +0000

connecting Fresno and LA, I think. It would have to go through residential neighborhoods, so it would almost certainly NEVER hit 220 mph, and the eminent domain required to build it amounts to more than the cost of building, equipping, and running it empty for five years, if memory serves.

It will never be built, but still gets millions every year from the legislature to plan and talk about it.

By: DerKrieger

DerKrieger — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 05:03:38 +0000

Is there a lot of consumer demand for high speed rail? No.

If there were then the market would have driven its development.

High speed rail is a union employment program and a means for politicians to claim that they’re creating jobs.

Progressives continue to push it because they want to force us out of our cars and off of airplanes so that we will stop climate change.

No GOP Rep should support this project. None.

By: saintgeorgegentile

saintgeorgegentile — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 05:01:43 +0000

I’m sure Biden just puts it on his expense report for reimbursement

By: Deskpilot

Deskpilot — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 05:00:08 +0000

Dems do nothing but write checks we American taxpayers can;t back up.
Uncle Joe needs to pony up the CASH. Unmarked, non sequential bills of a roughly equal mix of all denominaitons, As he counts each bill to Turbo Tax Tim, he needs to recite:
The name of the President on that Federal Reserve note
The date of its issue
The name of the SecTres who signed it
The name of the President under whose administration it was issued
The National Debt at the end of that fiscal year
The average gallon of gas and loaf of bread cost that year

I would pay full price on C-Span per view for that, even though I’d only watch about an hour, at the most.