Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This place has become boring with all these rehashed threads.
New rule needs to be in place to ban threads that begin with a question - those all all the worst threads that are set up for trolling.
Basically what is being said with threads like this is "I'm ignorant and crave attention, look at me".
Because it never ends up in "shovel ready" anything? Because it always instead just ends up going to pay big salary and benefits for a bunch of state and local $200,000/yr. public 'servants' to keep their jobs afloat for yet another year? Like stimulus did the last time?
Why do you ask? Is it time to preserve a state or local public employee unionionized hack's overcompensated job again?
The one subject, that is never discussed, when it comes to improving our infrastructure is efficiency! Everybody wants more money and then they play with it - they don't want to work; they want better benefits. Look at my state (PA) we had the highest fuel taxes in the Nation and then we gave them even more. I hit a pothole that could have torn my wheel off the other day. My County has more than it's fair share of potholes and bumpy roads. I have not seen any spending that would come close to justifying our high state fuel taxes. But, even with the latest raise in taxes, they (our politicians) are still looking for more!
How about trimming the fat and working more efficiently? The first jobs we should have outsourced should have been our politicians - then eliminate special interest.
In 2008, the Democrat-controlled Congress and the Bush White House were at odds over an Amtrak bill. Democrats wanted to double Amtrak’s budget. The Bush administration wanted to zero it out. A reauthorization bill had languished for years and funding was static.
Then in September, a commuter passenger rail train collided with a freight train in Los Angeles killing 25 people and injuring dozens. Suddenly, Congress did what it does best: React.
So, the Obama administration has been operating Amtrak under unsafe conditions for years?
You are implying that the crash was due to lack of funding after all.
AmTrak has lost money every year for the last 40. Mostly because it runs lines outside the NE corridor that have too high a fixed cost that any reasonable price could make profitable. Both Democrats and Republicans are on the wronng side of the AmTrak discussion, but the Republicans are the least wrong with privatize it all. At least privatization let's the market decide if rail can/should be done, versus just dedicating one's life to throwing good money after bad, which is the Democrat plan.
As much as it pains me to say it, the NE corridor needs passenger rail because it has become urban sprawl that goes from Boston to Richmond VA. It's one giant city held together with I-95 and some suburbs. The commuter trains relieve both ground and air traffic congestion in this corridor, and can carry a ton of passengers in a pretty efficient fashion. It's like a big outdoor subway. In the NE corridor, it actually makes some sense, but makes sense virtually nowhere else in the country, where air travel is king for longer distances and fewer passengers.
So the passenger rail outside the NE corridor should indeed be privatized, and AmTrak's sole province should be NE corridor urban sprawl. That would reflect proper business thinking, actually have government address how the NE US has grown, and accept the reality of rail vs air in the rest of a country as big as the United States is. So the Republican plan of scrapping it altogether is misguided, and the Democrat plan of "just double/triple the budget forever because well because!!" is even more misguided.
Run it like a freaking business. Cut your losing revenue streams, focus on your winning ones, right-size your operation, profit$$$.
The latest Amtrak train crash has left at least five people killed and dozens injured, with the cause of the crash remaining unknown.
It came on the eve of the railway budget bill that could see the funding for Amtrak slashed by 20 percent, from $1.4 to 1.13 billion.
In comparison, China’s railway budget for the next fiscal year is an estimated $128 billion, the Atlantic news portal reported.
Does Amtrak own the rails or do they pay another company to use them? If it is the latter, then the owner of the rails is responsible for their upkeep.
That's true for all infrastructure. The federal government is responsible for the interstate system. States for state highways. Counties for county roads. Cities for streets. Railroad tracks are owned by companies like Union Pacific or CSX. Electrical companies are responsible for the power lines. My city is responsible for my water and sewer.
During the "stimulus" a few years ago, we had some sidewalks put in and a new traffic light installed near our house. Were they needed? Probably. Should a single penny of federal money have been spent on them? No. It's not your responsibility to pay for anything in my city.
Republicans don't care about anything but spending money on war and foreign aid
Same as Democrats, who only care about the same things that Republicans only care about, which is what their crony masters care about.
War is corporate welfare for McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Loral, IBM, etc. Those companies fund both parties very well, and roughly half the DoD budget that NEITHER PARTY EVER REALLY MESSES WITH is tribute/payola to the defense industry cronies.
Foreign aid is the same thing. It's quid pro quo between the political aristocracies, and since the Clinton's are the literal king, queen and princess of foreign nation quid pro quo, I don't think you can hang foreign aid hijinks around the GOP's neck and make that partisan accusation stick. Both parties are in the pocket of the petro-dollar, small arms, UN money laundering game. Don't be so freaking naive.
Another moron thread. How long has Obama been in office? How long did Reid rule the Senate? And somehow it's the GOP's fault. Do any of you on the left actually think?
LOL really. Just goes to show us, it was nothing but talk. Liberal media must be ranting about roads and bridges again. Translation: raise taxes
Republicans don't care about anything but spending money on war and foreign aid
Yep, that's why Republicans are campaigning to squander trillions in Iran, like they did in Iran.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
