Meanwhile, China is planning on investing $451 Billion to $602 Billion on their high-speed rail networks between 2011 and 2015.
China is all but assured of spending that money. I find it doubtful that Biden will be successful in convincing enough Republican Teabaggers in the U.S. House of Representatives to spend even 1/10th as much as the Chinese, even on a longer time frame. Guess who’s more likely to lead the world through the 21st century?
With newly-elected Republican Teabagger Governors in Wisconsin and Ohio, the Midwest might have voted itself decades’ worth of future economic heartache. The new governors want to make good on their campaign promises to stop high-speed rail projects.
A Milwaukee-Madison link was to be completely paid for, but Gov.-elect Scott Walker, in typical Republican fashion, wants the money wasted on roads instead. The grant money can’t be spent on roads, however. The intent of high-speed rail stimulus was to build … high-speed rail. I know, it’s a big shock.
Connecting Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati? It’s one of the “dumbest ideas” Gov.-elect John Kasich has ever heard of. Apparently, keeping Ohioans firmly in the 1950s as the rest of the world runs in the 2010′s isn’t one of those “dumbest ideas”.
I understand that upper-Midwesterners have had a rough go of it for decades now. Corporations have chosen $1/week jobs in undeveloped nations instead of paying Americans living wages for a couple of generations. The solution, however, wasn’t electing more of the ideological zealots that got them into today’s terrible economic mess in the first place. Identifying and strongly supporting liberal Democrats should have been part of the answer. Punishing pro-corporate Dems instead of pro-people Dems was, is and will remain the wrong thing to do.
I share the dissatisfaction with under-performing and anti-American CorporateDems. In 2012, Democrats across the country need to make a very strong push for liberals and progressives who want to put the American people first. Republican Teabaggers have a lot of cute sound-bites. But make no mistake about it, they want power only to further expand the difference between the richest 1% of Americans and the rest of us. Ohio and Wisconsin have set themselves back even further from actual economic recovery. Instead of helping themselves out a few years from now, any relief won’t be felt for more than half a decade from now, at the earliest. It’s not up to your politicians, Dems. It’s up to you. You need to take the lead in setting and keeping this country on the right track.
[Update]: I forgot about the $3 Billion (!) for the Hudson River Project that Gov. Chris Christie threw into the gutter. Oh, and Gov.-elect Rick Scott of Florida doesn’t want $2.5 Billion the feds have authorized for high-speed rail between Tampa and Orlando. Tell you what, the rest of us will gladly take these funds and put them to good use in our states. Numerous rail projects are possible in Colorado. Any funds from the federal government would help get those projects underway. Our economies would benefit as a result while your economies wouldn’t. If that’s what you want to do in order to maintain some ridiculous notion of proper economic policy, by all means, keep rejecting funds.
Meteor Blades, among others, picked up on the very same notion I did.
It’s hopefully the first step of many to revolutionize the U.S.’s crumbling, antiquated and dirty transportation infrastructure:
Some viable proposals from someone who understands the complexity of financial markets. Regulation as it was practiced in the 1950s and 1960s is in order. We know the Bushies hated it; what will Obama do?
Slightly dated now, but how does the current bear market stack up against the post-1929 market, the post-oil crisis of 1973-74 and the early 2000′s tech crash? It’s pretty bad. I think since this graph was generated, things have leveled off.
Simple solutions to “too big to fail”. If it’s too big to fail, it’s too big to exist. It’s time to start breaking up corporations that are too big for their britches.
84% of Americans in 2007 were against privatization of roads. Does that mean they recognize that government is better at managing some projects than the private sector?
Speaking of transportation, a reduction in gasoline-fueled vehicles doesn’t only mean a movement toward hybrids and electric vehicles. High-speed rail deserves a good, hard look, followed up by some serious action.
I first heard of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Buses this summer. They’re very expensive at the moment due to the lack of market penetration, the same problem every new technology faces. After 1,000 roll off the assembly line, they should only cost $40,000 more than 20th century buses. At which point, they’ll pay for themselves in fuel savings in just a few years. And emissions are reduced by 90%. As soon as carbon costs are included, PHEBs will be very sought after.
