79% of Travelers Would Prefer High-Speed Rail Travel Over Air Travel (gasoline, death)
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Article 1 section 8 of the Constitution gives the government power to construct roads.
Which airlines are they subsidizing?
Not exactly. Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 of the US Constitution gives Congress the power "to establish Post Offices and Post Roads." Post Roads are further defined as "a road over which mail is carried."
At Eishenhower's request, Congress grossly abused their power and funded the unconstitutional interstate road system, which we are still paying for today over 50 years later.
As far as the airlines are concerned, Congress has been subsidizing the entire airline industry since 09/11/2001.
If you told those 79% what it would cost they might change their minds.
Quite true.
How this became an ideological issue is beyond me. Many of have been to Europe and loved the train systems. However, its not an analagous situation.
If various states see it in their interest, fine. If they are ready to assume huge costs and perpetual subsidies, fine. If, let's say, the people of the Lone Star State truly think a hsr link between Dallas and Houston is the way to go, go for it. Having lived in Dallas, I have a hard believing those car-happy people are going to disdain their auto for the occassionl trip from Dallas to Houston.
But if they want to spend Texas Money on it, fine. Dallas actually has an excellent bus system and a decent if embryonic light rail. You can always get a seat cuz there ain't too many people on it. I am sure they will love a bullet train.
The same could be said about Roads? Large Scale Projects should be funded by PPP's...
Roads already are. See fuel taxes. Licensce and registration fees. Toll roads. If fuel tax wasn't diverted to fund mass transit, perhaps some of these fees could be reduced. But then, mass transit users would have to pay there own way...can't have that happen now, can we?
To be honest, if residents of major urban areas want to fund dedicated passanger rail service between major cities, I'm not opposed to it. The users of those services should be the ones paying for them.
Roads already are. See fuel taxes. Licensce and registration fees. Toll roads. If fuel tax wasn't diverted to fund mass transit, perhaps some of these fees could be reduced. But then, mass transit users would have to pay there own way...can't have that happen now, can we?
To be honest, if residents of major urban areas want to fund dedicated passanger rail service between major cities, I'm not opposed to it. The users of those services should be the ones paying for them.
No, it's not. But the funny thing about free markets is that they sort this out. At some point the price of oil will go up dramatically and the markets will respond with more investment in alternative solutions.
We don't need government intervention to accomplish this.
If gas goes to $12 per gallon over the next five years you will see a lot of changes happen as a result. If coal and natural gas go up two or three hundred percent, the market will demand alternatives. Maybe then solar and wind sources will be economically viable.
I hear all of you good people complaining about the government funded part of HSR. I'm a fiscal conservative, but I really do think that HSR is an important part of the infrastructure in this country that deserves our tax dollars.
But as in my prior post, I don't believe this country can pull off such a feat without screwing it up royally.
But in my respect for HSR, we can just agree to disagree.
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Dallas actually has an excellent bus system and a decent if embryonic light rail. You can always get a seat cuz there ain't too many people on it. I am sure they will love a bullet train.
