One of the most notorious of all big government scams is the push to create a “high speed rail” network across the United States. According to U.S. President Barack Obama, this new network of super fast trains will be the biggest thing to hit transportation infrastructure since Dwight D. Eisenhower initiated the Interstate system …
Yet while billions of dollars have been committed to “high speed rail” projects across the country … not a single mile of track has been laid down.
In fact in Washington State, an $800 million investment produced no high-speed rail – just a marginally faster conventional train (cutting ten minutes off of a three-hour, forty-minute ride). In fact earlier this year CNN reported that the Obama administration’s $12 billion investment in “high speed rail” had labored to produce “134 scattered projects across the country that have mostly made slow trains a little faster.”
Now South Carolina – a state which is borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars (and trying to raise taxes) to fix its substandard roads and bridges – wants a piece of the high speed rail “action.”
“We need it here,” Richland County council member Kelvin Washington told WIS TV 10 (NBC – Columbia, S.C.) last week. “It only makes sense to put it here.”
Really?
(Flushing sound).
Of course in Washington’s defense his county government just stole $1.2 billion from taxpayers, so it’s not surprising the prospect of additional thievery appeals to him …
Seriously … who’s going to stop him? Especially not after he promised the project would bring an “economic boost” to the region.
Make no mistake: “High speed rail” is not the next Interstate system, it is the next “bridge to nowhere.” But hey … spending billions of dollars in borrowed money on something we don’t need and can’t afford is what government at all levels is all about these days.
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96 comments
We have near idiots on City Council. They have, when coming into office, very low net worths. They are flexible in morality and big corporations like those involved in high speed rail can purchasing these clowns for spare change.
Of course, City Council can’t do a damned thing about high crime, taxes and utility rates. But they sure as hell can borrow and spend money.
We have near idiots on City Council. They have, when coming into office, very low net worths. They are flexible in morality and big corporations like those involved in high speed rail can purchasing these clowns for spare change.
Of course, City Council can’t do a damned thing about high crime, taxes and utility rates. But they sure as hell can borrow and spend money.
“…spending billions of dollars in borrowed money on something we don’t need and can’t afford…” Would you be referring to the war in Iraq or Afghanistan or both?
No, it would be referring to section 8 housing. And Head Start. And After School Meals. And all of the other failed progressive programs that steal money from taxpayers.
I would be referring to both. There needs to be an awakening in this country. Many people seem to feel that their programs are worthy, while the other guys are not.
The undeniable fact is that all of these programs and wars on foreign soil are illegitimate and illegal. The fact that some moron stands up and says ‘Oh no. This is legal’ does not make it any less so.
Your comment reminds me of certain dysfunctional marriages I’ve witnessed where money ends up ruining the marriage or finances of said couple. It goes like this:
Middle age guy does something financially stupid, let’s say buy a nice new Mustang Cobra or Porsche but doesn’t make the kind of money to easily support the payments.
Wifey, after years of discipline and sacrifice to hubby, kids, house, etc. says “What the fuck?”
What does she do? She runs out and buys some Loius Vuitton, and new dress and other personal treats….EVERY WEEK(because now the Porsche payments remind her every month)
As our happy couple’s financial Titanic sinks they scream, shout and point fingers at each other….yet neither EVER considers that their spending is part of the problem.
Go on people, keep giving Gillon that big ole “Thumbs up”, it’s like you are jamming it up your own asses. Everyone knows every President has overspent, the question of who/what did it is POINTLESS.
IT SIMPLY NEEDS TO STOP. It isn’t justification for doing more.
Freaking brilliant! I give it five Euros. €€€€€
“…spending billions of dollars in borrowed money on something we don’t need and can’t afford…” Would you be referring to the war in Iraq or Afghanistan or both?
No, it would be referring to section 8 housing. And Head Start. And After School Meals. And all of the other failed progressive programs that steal money from taxpayers.
I would be referring to both. There needs to be an awakening in this country. Many people seem to feel that their programs are worthy, while the other guys are not.
The undeniable fact is that all of these programs and wars on foreign soil are illegitimate and illegal. The fact that some moron stands up and says ‘Oh no. This is legal’ does not make it any less so.
Your comment reminds me of certain dysfunctional marriages I’ve witnessed where money ends up ruining the marriage or finances of said couple. It goes like this:
Middle age guy does something financially stupid, let’s say buy a nice new Mustang Cobra or Porsche but doesn’t make the kind of money to easily support the payments.
Wifey, after years of discipline and sacrifice to hubby, kids, house, etc. says “What the fuck?”
What does she do? She runs out and buys some Loius Vuitton, and new dress and other personal treats….EVERY WEEK(because now the Porsche payments remind her every month)
As our happy couple’s financial Titanic sinks they scream, shout and point fingers at each other….yet neither EVER considers that their spending is part of the problem.
Go on people, keep giving Gillon that big ole “Thumbs up”, it’s like you are jamming it up your own asses. Everyone knows every President has overspent, the question of who/what did it is POINTLESS.
IT SIMPLY NEEDS TO STOP. It isn’t justification for doing more.
Freaking brilliant! I give it five Euros. €€€€€
“We need it here,” Richland County council member Kelvin Washington told WIS TV 10 (NBC – Columbia, S.C.) last week. ”It only makes sense to put it here.”
Right, it needs to be HQ’d downtown Columbia at the intersection of Main and Gervais and it needs to end at the 439 acre Shit Farm over in Pelion
Dumb bastards. Can’t fix roads, can’t fix bridges, can’t cut the damn grass and the stupid sons of bitches want a high speed train to take gang members from the county down to five points to beat the shit out of college kids
Well if you’d pay attention to the fact that the money allocated to spend is in this state is given priority to the coast..then it goes to the Greenville area b/c basically they have the political clout up there and more populated county. Columbia gets the shaft in the state similar to how Richmond gets the shaft in Virginia in favor of Northern VA area and the Hampton Roads area. You want bad roads and etc..hell at least you don’t have to fill your own potholes like many do there [having to buy asphalt filler from Home depot] and i remember a hole go so big a lady’s car got stuck in it.
“We need it here,” Richland County council member Kelvin Washington told WIS TV 10 (NBC – Columbia, S.C.) last week. ”It only makes sense to put it here.”
Right, it needs to be HQ’d downtown Columbia at the intersection of Main and Gervais and it needs to end at the 439 acre Shit Farm over in Pelion
Dumb bastards. Can’t fix roads, can’t fix bridges, can’t cut the damn grass and the stupid sons of bitches want a high speed train to take gang members from the county down to five points to beat the shit out of college kids
Well if you’d pay attention to the fact that the money allocated to spend is in this state is given priority to the coast..then it goes to the Greenville area b/c basically they have the political clout up there and more populated county. Columbia gets the shaft in the state similar to how Richmond gets the shaft in Virginia in favor of Northern VA area and the Hampton Roads area. You want bad roads and etc..hell at least you don’t have to fill your own potholes like many do there [having to buy asphalt filler from Home depot] and i remember a hole go so big a lady’s car got stuck in it.
The earth is round, except in South Carolina.
The earth is round, except in South Carolina.
I like it, have 2 routes, one that comes from Newberry, through Chapin and Irmo, into downtown, and another from Orangeburg. With less traffic on the roads, the roads and bridges won’t deteriorate as quickly. Everybody wins!! Unfortunately, we’ll never see this rail system.
It is important to remember that the same SCDoT that lets the roads and bridges deteriorate and the grass grow 3 feet tall is the same SCDoT that will be charged with maintaining the rails and the trains themselves.
I like it, have 2 routes, one that comes from Newberry, through Chapin and Irmo, into downtown, and another from Orangeburg. With less traffic on the roads, the roads and bridges won’t deteriorate as quickly. Everybody wins!! Unfortunately, we’ll never see this rail system.
It is important to remember that the same SCDoT that lets the roads and bridges deteriorate and the grass grow 3 feet tall is the same SCDoT that will be charged with maintaining the rails and the trains themselves.
Look at California. $35 million per mile and that doesn’t include right of ways, the train cars, etc.
It does include $35,000,000 per mile that is going to Dianne Feinstein’s husband. You know, Dianne “Mil-Con” Feinstein, who steers millions in DOD contracts to her husband.
Trains are the perfect terrorist target. They only go one place, at specific times during the day and night, at terrific speeds, which will compound the bombing effects. At least one of the four “derailments” in the NE has been a terrorist attack, but we’ve been told they’re just accidents. And who knows, maybe it was. But some day it won’t be. Too tempting.
Trains are no more susceptible to a terrorist attack than a subway, bus/trolley, a crowded street, or right before the TSA screeners at the airport (or as a lot of people have proven, after the screeners too). Also, a high speed rail would ideally have systems in place to set off alarms if part of the line was damaged or malfunctioning.
In the unfortunate case of Boston, marathons only go one place too, to the finish line. That’s no reason to never run a marathon.
You are precisely correct. Why have cities which are so big that they require subways or buses or trolleys? The whole concept of large cities reeks of socialist control. On the other hand, if all the lefties were kept in one place, they’d be a whole lot easier to control. Either way, who needs mass transit? All you’re doing is moving the garbage around from dump to dump.
Look at California. $35 million per mile and that doesn’t include right of ways, the train cars, etc.
It does include $35,000,000 per mile that is going to Dianne Feinstein’s husband. You know, Dianne “Mil-Con” Feinstein, who steers millions in DOD contracts to her husband.
Trains are the perfect terrorist target. They only go one place, at specific times during the day and night, at terrific speeds, which will compound the bombing effects. At least one of the four “derailments” in the NE has been a terrorist attack, but we’ve been told they’re just accidents. And who knows, maybe it was. But some day it won’t be. Too tempting.
Trains are no more susceptible to a terrorist attack than a subway, bus/trolley, a crowded street, or right before the TSA screeners at the airport (or as a lot of people have proven, after the screeners too). Also, a high speed rail would ideally have systems in place to set off alarms if part of the line was damaged or malfunctioning.
In the unfortunate case of Boston, marathons only go one place too, to the finish line. That’s no reason to never run a marathon.
You are precisely correct. Why have cities which are so big that they require subways or buses or trolleys, which are equally susceptible to terrorist attack? The whole concept of large cities reeks of socialist control. On the other hand, if all the lefties were kept in one place, they’d be a whole lot easier to control. Either way, who needs mass transit? All you’re doing is moving the garbage around from dump to dump.
Tell you one damn thing:
If they provide high-speed rail from Atlanta to Charlotte,
I’ll use it all the time.
Between concerts and Pro Sports games it is a no-brainer
Only stops should be Athens, GSP, Gaffney & Charlotte on the route(To & Fro)
Who gives a shit about Columbia and the rest of SC???
Now in a perfect world, they could provide a train car to lash down my motorcycle like they did for horses in the “Wild West” days!!!
But hey, I know how to use MARTA in Atlanta and LINX in Charlotte!!! Unlike you dickheads who live in Columbia and think that is the center of the universe.
LINX is the best value for $3.00 in the US!!!
Never forget the ‘Unofficial” (but oh so true!!!) slogan of Columbia, SC:
“We’re ONLY 90 miles from Charlotte straight up I-77!!
Yeah, but you still wind up having to drive to Greer. I mean, dang!
I know you didn’t just suggest HSR stopping in Gaffney. Hey honey, let’s haul ass over to Charlotte on a 150 mph train but make sure we stop in Gaffney for a deal on some new Bass penny loafers. Fuck me, people are drunk posting on a Sunday night.
I love the reference to MARTA, which in Atlanta is referred to “Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta”.
It’s the locals way of describing another successful public works project.
Tell you one damn thing:
If they provide high-speed rail from Atlanta to Charlotte,
I’ll use it all the time.
Between concerts and Pro Sports games it is a no-brainer
Only stops should be Athens, GSP, Gaffney & Charlotte on the route(To & Fro)
Who gives a shit about Columbia and the rest of SC???
Now in a perfect world, they could provide a train car to lash down my motorcycle like they did for horses in the “Wild West” days!!!
But hey, I know how to use MARTA in Atlanta and LINX in Charlotte!!! Unlike you dickheads who live in Columbia and think that is the center of the universe.
LINX is the best value for $3.00 in the US!!!
Never forget the ‘Unofficial” (but oh so true!!!) slogan of Columbia, SC:
“We’re ONLY 90 miles from Charlotte straight up I-77!!
Yeah, but you still wind up having to drive to Greer. I mean, dang!
I know you didn’t just suggest HSR stopping in Gaffney. Hey honey, let’s haul ass over to Charlotte on a 150 mph train but make sure we stop in Gaffney for a deal on some new Bass penny loafers. Fuck me, people are drunk posting on a Sunday night.
I love the reference to MARTA, which in Atlanta is referred to “Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta”.
It’s the locals way of describing another successful public works project.
It will be better to build Et3 that mean people can ride tube faster, less taxes and cheaper than high speed rail and highway. Please stop politics, Take look at http://www.ET3.com.
It would be better to have the feds doing what their supposed to do, and not promising a chicken in every pot.
It will be better to build Et3 that mean people can ride tube faster, less taxes and cheaper than high speed rail and highway. Please stop politics, Take look at http://www.ET3.com.
It would be better to have the feds doing what their supposed to do, and not promising a chicken in every pot.
I like the idea of a high speed rail, but the unfortunate fact is that most Americans enjoy the freedom of driving their own car. Cities are rarely designed around mass transit either, making bus systems about the only real and effective way of bringing about local public transportation in many cases. The severe downside to all of this is an extreme addiction to oil, a finite resource, that grows larger as the population grows.
High speed rails work for European countries, as well as some Asian countries like Japan, because there is far less ground to cover and routes are far simpler. America has so many major cities it is ridiculous, and they are all very far apart geographically: Seattle, Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Charlotte… It would require billions upon billions of dollars to connect just these big cities, far more than most any entity in the free market would be able to feasibly do. What other cities should be included? Which ones shouldn’t?
Maybe when oil is more scarce, the necessity of a high speed rail system will be more apparent and be embraced, built, and actually be used. I think the best focus for transportation today is to increase fuel efficiency, or switch to an alternative fuel source that doesn’t have the problems that oil has. Government already funds research for that.
I like the idea of a high speed rail, but the unfortunate fact is that most Americans enjoy the freedom of driving their own car. Cities are rarely designed around mass transit either, making bus systems about the only real and effective way of bringing about local public transportation in many cases. The severe downside to all of this is an extreme addiction to oil, a finite resource, that grows larger as the population grows.
High speed rails work for European countries, as well as some Asian countries like Japan, because there is far less ground to cover and routes are far simpler. America has so many major cities it is ridiculous, and they are all very far apart geographically: Seattle, Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Charlotte… It would require billions upon billions of dollars to connect just these big cities, far more than most any entity in the free market would be able to feasibly do. What other cities should be included? Which ones shouldn’t?
Maybe when oil is more scarce, the necessity of a high speed rail system will be more apparent and be embraced, built, and actually be used. I think the best focus for transportation today is to increase fuel efficiency, or switch to an alternative fuel source that doesn’t have the problems that oil has. Government already funds research for that.
Maybe the members of the General Assembly along with Lil Nikki can be ridden out
of town on a…no The Rail !
Maybe the members of the General Assembly along with Lil Nikki can be ridden out
of town on a…no The Rail !
Supposed to be a high speed rail corridor along 85 for freight that also has runs to the ports of Richmond, Wilmington and Savannah… anyone notice another trend here?
Vanderbilt called it a railroad. Buffet is buying them up to save them because the trucks are killing the roads and will eventually be taxed to their grave to cover it. So, Freight rail is back in vogue, give that another 75 years to mature, by then the political pendulum will have swung back in favor of the truck lobby, rails will become overgrown and towns will be gifted them to convert to bike trails and greenways again, so forth and so on.
The only thing that will not change is the need for more navigable waters at our ports(kudos dot-head Methodist), the Nicaraguan Canal will have been cut (possibly) and so on.
As for moving everybody around in one big hurry, well I have a little prediction. The web is eliminating the need for people to cluster and planes are crashing less often so the only tube that gets built will be a giant sewer main to get the shit to the coast and bypass the water supply. Carve it in a tree. Remember when shopping malls were the thing of the future. Now shoppes are charging “try-on fees”.
And yet, if truckers would change to Michelin’s X tire,they would tread much lighter on the road, wear lighter on the truck and reduce rollover by 59%. (They’ve had the tire for seven years, now). Trains tell you where to go. You tell cars & scoots & bikes & RVs where to go. And I’d like to tell the person who came up with the idea of a high speed train where to go.
Oh, one more fact. Japanese high speed trains stand down more often than move at high speeds due to rail and wheel repair/replacement. Based on the r/r costs to profit ratio, it will take about 125 years to break even, at which time the entire infrastructure will have been rusted out by about 45 years.
Very informative. Good job.
Supposed to be a high speed rail corridor along 85 for freight that also has runs to the ports of Richmond, Wilmington and Savannah… anyone notice another trend here?
Vanderbilt called it a railroad. Buffet is buying them up to save them because the trucks are killing the roads and will eventually be taxed to their grave to cover it. So, Freight rail is back in vogue, give that another 75 years to mature, by then the political pendulum will have swung back in favor of the truck lobby, rails will become overgrown and towns will be gifted them to convert to bike trails and greenways again, so forth and so on.
The only thing that will not change is the need for more navigable waters at our ports(kudos dot-head Methodist), the Nicaraguan Canal will have been cut (possibly) and so on.
As for moving everybody around in one big hurry, well I have a little prediction. The web is eliminating the need for people to cluster and planes are crashing less often so the only tube that gets built will be a giant sewer main to get the shit to the coast and bypass the water supply. Carve it in a tree. Remember when shopping malls were the thing of the future. Now shoppes are charging “try-on fees”.
And yet, if truckers would change to Michelin’s X tire,they would tread much lighter on the road, wear lighter on the truck and reduce rollover by 59%. (They’ve had the tire for seven years, now). Trains tell you where to go. You tell cars & scoots & bikes & RVs where to go. And I’d like to tell the person who came up with the idea of a high speed train where to go.
Oh, one more fact. Japanese high speed trains stand down more often than move at high speeds due to rail and wheel repair/replacement. Based on the r/r costs to profit ratio, it will take about 125 years to break even, at which time the entire infrastructure will have been rusted out by about 45 years.
Very informative. Good job.
Dead on. The only worse idea I have heard is a G’ville County Councilman who wants to have an elevated track for electric cars to get people from Mauldin to Greenville. These people get on that gubment dole and their egos eat their brains.
Here’s an idea, build a giant fucking roller-coaster from one state to the next and charge $59 per ticket. No briefcases allowed. Better yet, a 1-way log ride from Myrtle Beach out into the middle of the ocean and call it the Ohio Massacre. Chum along folks, board your log.
lol! Thumbs up from me.
Tourist: “Does this train stop in Myrtle Beach?”
Conductor: “If it doesn’t there’ll be one hell of a splash!”
Dead on. The only worse idea I have heard is a G’ville County Councilman who wants to have an elevated track for electric cars to get people from Mauldin to Greenville. These people get on that gubment dole and their egos eat their brains.
Here’s an idea, build a giant fucking roller-coaster from one state to the next and charge $59 per ticket. No briefcases allowed. Better yet, a 1-way log ride from Myrtle Beach out into the middle of the ocean and call it the Ohio Massacre. Chum along folks, board your log.
lol! Thumbs up from me.
Tourist: “Does this train stop in Myrtle Beach?”
Conductor: “If it doesn’t there’ll be one hell of a splash!”
Hmm…….thanks a lot Mr. Wil Folks (or is it Amy) …!! You offer a great perspective on the High Speed Rail issue but you FAIL to mention the most important part (you weenie).
Wil, do you offer any thought to what ENERGY this will use compared to the foreign OIL that everyone uses in the cars here in South Carolina..?
Do taxpayers have a CHOICE..? Which choice would support the “War Effort”..??
We have more fossil fuel under American soil than in all the world, save, possibly, Antarctica. Our Natural Gas supplies, assuming an increase similar to the percentage of that in the 20thC, would put us somewhere into the 24th century before the supply lags demand, not even talking running out. A simple conversion to natural gas in our cars would ruin the rail business. But since the same people who sit on the railroad boards sit on the Oil boards and the auto boards, I’m guessing, they’re gonna do sweet deals for oil until they can’t and THEN move to natgas, which they DON’T control. Where, along this line does the little guy fit in? Only if he converts his car, himself. Costs about $1,500, by the way. But TRAINS? OY!
Hmm…….thanks a lot Mr. Wil Folks (or is it Amy) …!! You offer a great perspective on the High Speed Rail issue but you FAIL to mention the most important part (you weenie).
Wil, do you offer any thought to what ENERGY this will use compared to the foreign OIL that everyone uses in the cars here in South Carolina..?
Do taxpayers have a CHOICE..? Which choice would support the “War Effort”..??
We have more fossil fuel under American soil than in all the world, save, possibly, Antarctica. Our Natural Gas supplies, assuming an increase similar to the percentage of that in the 20thC, would put us somewhere into the 24th century before the supply lags demand, not even talking running out. A simple conversion to natural gas in our cars would ruin the rail business. But since the same people who sit on the railroad boards sit on the Oil boards and the auto boards, I’m guessing, they’re gonna do sweet deals for oil until they can’t and THEN move to natgas, which they DON’T control. Where, along this line does the little guy fit in? Only if he converts his car, himself. Costs about $1,500, by the way. But TRAINS? OY!
Mr Folks……….when you find time today…read this….
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Energy-Companies-Entering-War-on-Terror.html
What service are you really providing your readers here…..you idiot!
Wil, your not a dummie…!! We know that you know how to think when you read a historical article about John D. Rockefeller. Just look at the “terrorists” he had to deal with.
Wil….just think if everyone of your readers had a choice of using ANY transportation method that did NOT use foreign energy on a mass scale. How would Big Oil Respond to educated and aware consumers knowing how to support the WAR EFFORT?
Wil…..ask yourself a question……How long would you go without using your car or truck and using a LOCAL energy transportation choice to help win a WAR..?? Would you even care enough for troop moral to do it..?? Would you care enough to show support for Syrian citizens or Egyptian citizens or Nigerian citizens to do it..?
Wil…..do you have a clue how many Veterans of wars read your website..?
Wil, your a winner….start informing like it.
Mr Folks……….when you find time today…read this….
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Energy-Companies-Entering-War-on-Terror.html
What service are you really providing your readers here…..you idiot!
Wil, your not a dummie…!! We know that you know how to think when you read a historical article about John D. Rockefeller. Just look at the “terrorists” he had to deal with.
Wil….just think if everyone of your readers had a choice of using ANY transportation method that did NOT use foreign energy on a mass scale. How would Big Oil Respond to educated and aware consumers knowing how to support the WAR EFFORT?
Wil…..ask yourself a question……How long would you go without using your car or truck and using a LOCAL energy transportation choice to help win a WAR..?? Would you even care enough for troop moral to do it..?? Would you care enough to show support for Syrian citizens or Egyptian citizens or Nigerian citizens to do it..?
Wil…..do you have a clue how many Veterans of wars read your website..?
Wil, your a winner….start informing like it.
Why does anybody in this state need to get anywhere that fast? It would be fun to see the legislative and local cockroaches scramble to get their communities included as a hub – then they would find out who their friends are.
Why does anybody in this state need to get anywhere that fast? It would be fun to see the legislative and local cockroaches scramble to get their communities included as a hub – then they would find out who their friends are.
I’m surprised SC can’t hear the loud sucking and flushing sounds coming clear across the country from California, where I live. In our case, the political will has trumped the law and fiscal sanity. Once that happens, the question becomes how do you assure getting a well designed system versus a system designed by politics? In California the HSR Authority ignored all the experts (incl. France and Japan), and instead promised stations and development to key Democratic politicians. The result is a system that is about 70 miles longer than it should be, and it is therefore unlikely to be able to compete with airlines as initially intended and promised, while costing a whole lot more. The reality is the CA system seems more likely to be a money grab for a few billion in ‘free’ federal dollars (thanks you rest of country) in order to keep the unions happy through to the next election. Once the money is gone, there is no more, and we will have ruined hundreds of acres of “Prime Ag” land and long term jobs in exchange for some empty tracks and short term, fully subsidized jobs.
I’m surprised SC can’t hear the loud sucking and flushing sounds coming clear across the country from California, where I live. In our case, the political will has trumped the law and fiscal sanity. Once that happens, the question becomes how do you assure getting a well designed system versus a system designed by politics? In California the HSR Authority ignored all the experts (incl. France and Japan), and instead promised stations and development to key Democratic politicians. The result is a system that is about 70 miles longer than it should be, and it is therefore unlikely to be able to compete with airlines as initially intended and promised, while costing a whole lot more. The reality is the CA system seems more likely to be a money grab for a few billion in ‘free’ federal dollars (thanks you rest of country) in order to keep the unions happy through to the next election. Once the money is gone, there is no more, and we will have ruined hundreds of acres of “Prime Ag” land and long term jobs in exchange for some empty tracks and short term, fully subsidized jobs.
Look, I LOVE all three parts of the state. I know, historically, that de Lowcountry hates the Upstate, and everybody hates Columbia and vice versa. But this is stupid to the extreme. Just the imagined possibility of a high-speed train – which is a boondoggle – is enough to bring out the worst in these geographical nastinesses.
SO stop it!
In any case, it’s not going to happen. Not any time soon. Realistically, the price is too much, and the money is not there. But even if there were enough money for one line, where do think it would go and what sort of division do you think it would cause?
I’d rather have horse and buggy and unity in the state than one superduperpooperscooper train line and division. We’re too damned small to be this divided over something this silly.
everytime you use the word “boondoggle” your credibility is flushed down the toilet. And a kitten dies…
NO! NO! Not the kittens! Anything but the kittens!
Look, I LOVE all three parts of the state. I know, historically, that de Lowcountry hates the Upstate, and everybody hates Columbia and vice versa. But this is stupid to the extreme. Just the imagined possibility of a high-speed train – which is a boondoggle – is enough to bring out the worst in these geographical nastinesses.
SO stop it!
In any case, it’s not going to happen. Not any time soon. Realistically, the price is too much, and the money is not there. But even if there were enough money for one line, where do think it would go and what sort of division do you think it would cause?
I’d rather have horse and buggy and unity in the state than one superduperpooperscooper train line and division. We’re too damned small to be this divided over something this silly.
everytime you use the word “boondoggle” your credibility is flushed down the toilet. And a kitten dies…
NO! NO! Not the kittens! Anything but the kittens! …………………. All right.. how about a complete travesty against the purse of the working humans?
actually, i would vote for a fast train from greenville-spartanburg to charleston running down the I-26 corridor in a second. and i would use it regularly. i think its a fantastic idea.
Unfortunately you don’t get to play in the Federal money playground in you keep it Intra-State so calculate how much YOU would personally pay for such a grandiose idea. If we’re just dreaming here, well my fantasies are more colorful if you know what I mean.
actually, i would vote for a fast train from greenville-spartanburg to charleston running down the I-26 corridor in a second. and i would use it regularly. i think its a fantastic idea.
Unfortunately you don’t get to play in the Federal money playground in you keep it Intra-State so calculate how much YOU would personally pay for such a grandiose idea. If we’re just dreaming here, well my fantasies are more colorful if you know what I mean.
Maybe we could run the trains off of ethanol or windmills?
.
.
. Or unicorn farts?
Maybe we could run the trains off of ethanol or windmills?
.
.
. Or unicorn farts?
You moron. Have you seen Europe? Traveled through China? We are behind. I agree with a lot of what you say, but seriously dude?
You moron. Have you seen Europe? Traveled through China? We are behind. I agree with a lot of what you say, but seriously dude?
If they make it go conveniently right to the airport in Charlotte we could close Columbia’s down and Mungo could build still another homogenized housing development.
If they make it go conveniently right to the airport in Charlotte we could close Columbia’s down and Mungo could build still another homogenized housing development.
This article is ill informed and ignorant. Lest you wish to leave my state behind to perpetual backwardness, you can live in the SC of the past. We in Greenville would welcome a faster better link to both ATL and CLT. The better to perhaps succeed from people in the region like yourself.
This article is ill informed and ignorant. Lest you wish to leave my state behind to perpetual backwardness, you can live in the SC of the past. We in Greenville would welcome a faster better link to both ATL and CLT. The better to perhaps succeed from people in the region like yourself.
Republican thinking:
Military spends $300 billion on a non-operational F-35 fighter jet program = sound investment.
California wants to spend $70 billion on an electric high-speed rail system = boondoggle.
I think it’s about time we kick these clowns out of office and focus on the transition away from oil for our transportation system.
Paul, I completely agree with you there. It’s odd that so many people complain about the cost of high-speed rail systems without taking into account other expenditures such as the F-35 program and who-knows-how-many pointless wars. Why can’t everybody realize that the California High-Speed Rail System if built over eight years would cost 0.000000000219 percent of the national budget each year? A South Carolina system would cost even less. I agree that it’s time to find a new way of thinking about economy and transportation.
Republican thinking:
Military spends $300 billion on a non-operational F-35 fighter jet program = sound investment.
California wants to spend $70 billion on an electric high-speed rail system = boondoggle.
I think it’s about time we kick these clowns out of office and focus on the transition away from oil for our transportation system.
Paul, I completely agree with you there. It’s odd that so many people complain about the cost of high-speed rail systems without taking into account other expenditures such as the F-35 program and who-knows-how-many pointless wars. Why can’t everybody realize that the California High-Speed Rail System if built over eight years would cost 0.000000000219 percent of the national budget each year? A South Carolina system would cost even less. I agree that it’s time to find a new way of thinking about economy and transportation.
How much Rothschild’s and Rockefeller’s has paid you to put this bull on line? People like you are enemies of the states. People like you are supporters of new world order. People like you want to put the VeriChip is our ass, You don’t care about taxpayers, that is the last thing you care about, and if you do care about anything it’s what they want you to care.
Where were you when bush spend trillions in Afghanistan, Iraq and god knows were else
and Ronald Reagan sending jobs over to china to become president
You have no brain what so ever to think with. They think for you!
shall I continue I think I will
This country is still a slave to UK and Rothschild’s we owe them money from 1776 for the revolution war and thanks to Woodrow Wilson we have Federal Reserve “that is not federal nor even reserve at all” and IRS
There for instead of arguing how we as people should spend our money to improve our lives, we should think on how to get out country and our monetary system back from this highway robbers
Thank you
Russ Avshalum
How much Rothschild’s and Rockefeller’s has paid you to put this bull on line? People like you are enemies of the states. People like you are supporters of new world order. People like you want to put the VeriChip is our ass, You don’t care about taxpayers, that is the last thing you care about, and if you do care about anything it’s what they want you to care.
Where were you when bush spend trillions in Afghanistan, Iraq and god knows were else
and Ronald Reagan sending jobs over to china to become president
You have no brain what so ever to think with. They think for you!
shall I continue I think I will
This country is still a slave to UK and Rothschild’s we owe them money from 1776 for the revolution war and thanks to Woodrow Wilson we have Federal Reserve “that is not federal nor even reserve at all” and IRS
There for instead of arguing how we as people should spend our money to improve our lives, we should think on how to get out country and our monetary system back from this highway robbers
Thank you
Russ Avshalum
So would you rather spend five or six times the cost of high-speed rail to upgrade the Interstate Highway system to meet demand? High-speed rail is a cheaper, more eco-friendly and more convenient alternative to building more highways and expanding additional highways, and it is the vital link America’s dysfunctional transit system still lacks.
So would you rather spend five or six times the cost of high-speed rail to upgrade the Interstate Highway system to meet demand? High-speed rail is a cheaper, more eco-friendly and more convenient alternative to building more highways and expanding additional highways, and it is the vital link America’s dysfunctional transit system still lacks.