Tone deaf. Obama is blowing $8Bn on building a high-speed rail system for the USA. Why? Nobody rides the train anymore -- it is for bulk cargo and that is it.
From Breitbart/AFP:
Obama, Biden to unveil billion-dollar rail networkJust for shits and giggles, I looked at a trip from Bellingham, WA to Las Angeles: Here I can find my own way down from Bellingham to Seattle and spend 35 hours on the train for $98:
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will Thursday highlight eight billion dollars in economic stimulus funding toward a long-awaited US high-speed rail system. The announcement will apportion the funding among various state governments, with Florida Senator Bill Nelson saying in a statement Wednesday that his state expected to have part of their bid approved.
The administration had previously announced the figure for funding under Obama's 787-billion-dollar Recovery Act, but will offer more details at a town hall meeting in Tampa, Florida, an administration official said.
Train vs AIR It takes time to increase train speeds and ridership.. Even the most sucessful high speed train line today, the Tokaido Shinkansen started out with a top speed of only 130 mph in 1964 and today its only 186 mph but it now carries 400,000 passengers A DAY ! and there has never been an accident and the longest delay has been 3 minuites ! Even Air France wants to run high speed trains between Paris and London... as the trend to privatize the ooperation of the trains continues... Think of the amount of oil saved..
Dude, no one is expecting you take the train from end to end. On Acela, the train runs between Boston and DC but no one going from Boston to DC would take it...it's just shorter to fly. BUT on the segments in between...Boston to New Haven, NYC to Philadelphia, Philly to Baltimore...it's great.
(FYI Acela is so good that no one drives between NYC and Philadelphia any more)