Obama Outlines High-Speed Rail Initiative: ‘Make No Little Plans’

If you’re willing to spend spend spend, there is nothing you can’t get started right now.
Why has nobody ever thought of this before? Priorities are for losers. Figuring out how well things will work is for later.
Just spend!

Maybe it’s not spending – maybe it’s investing.

Love It! The High Speed Rail It will cut down on Traffic Congestion Cut down on Fuel consumption and Create Jobs and Be more enviorment Friendly. and Were getting into the 21st Century! at least were spending the Money to make OUR COUNTRY BETTER And Not Iraq GREAT JOB PRESIDENT OBAMA!

Ron:”SURE, let’s blow another few billion of our tax dollars on one more useless project. This is exactly the type of thing that the TEA Parties were about.”
Seem a bit pointless if the TEA parties were all about bemoaning already passed legislation (the high speed rail is not new funding – it was approved in the stimulus).

From the Christian Science Monitor:
“‘These grass-roots movements can make a big difference. We saw that with the suffrage movement, where you had to get people picketing the White House in addition to folks who were lobbying state by state for ratification,’ says Elizabeth Bennion, a professor who studies voter mobilization at Indiana University at South Bend. At the Tea Parties now, she says, ‘These are people – liberal, conservative, moderate and unidentified – who are genuinely concerned about the debt that we’re passing onto our children and grandchildren.’”

“…the high speed rail is not new funding – it was approved in the stimulus.”
Right. No point in protesting against anything that was in the unread Pelosi stimulus package–what’s done is done, right?
Does anyone seriously think that this high-speed rail will support itself? If not, does that tell you anything about whether it is a good idea?

Has Obama ever been to China?

jhw:(the high speed rail is not new funding – it was approved in the stimulus).
======
$8 billion was approved in the stimulus. Karen reports above he has requested $5 billion more. We all know a high speed rail line is going to cost way more than $13 billion dollars.
In fact, CA (a state with an outstanding budgeting record) alone has passed $9.95 billion in funding for a high-speed rail within the state.

======Seem a bit pointless if the TEA parties were all about bemoaning already passed legislation (the high speed rail is not new funding – it was approved in the stimulus). ======
Wouldn’t that also apply to anti-war protesters? A bit pointless since authorization for Iraq was passed by a bi-partisan majority of both houses?

Axey:”Wouldn’t that also apply to anti-war protesters? A bit pointless since authorization for Iraq was passed by a bi-partisan majority of both houses?”
Yes. Notice how much good the anti-war protests did verus actually voting in 2008…

======Yes. Notice how much good the anti-war protests did verus actually voting in 2008…=====
I did notice. The anti-war, really anti-Bush, protesters brought Bush’s approval numbers down to where he and republicans could be defeated. That is our aim. Defeating Obama and democrats. 2010 is just around the corner.

MayBee,
He can’t seem to get past the facade that China presents to the world. He seems to have a fixation with communist countries and how they are run.

AXEY
He is not Obsessed with Communist countries those countries are Blowing us away In technology while we have Only Focused on Iraq for 8 years!

No one ever thought that the interstate highway system would support itself
============
Nobody ever thought the Big Dig would come in under budget.
Nobody ever thought politicians would misuse funds meant to build levies.
Nobody ever thought requiring districts to invest in different voting machines would lead to new, different problems.
It is interesting, isn’t it, how we always use historically successful programs to predict how well our favorite projects will do?

Angie in PA,
I believe he is obsessed with communist countries. And frankly, nothing you say will change my mind. Especially when your only argument is Bush.

donttaxmeman:”the only high speed rail in the porkulas was the disney one from LA to vegas, ”
That is a lie. Please provide the page or section that rail line can be found in. No one – not even Hannity/O’Reily/Limbaugh’s well paid researchers, have been able to do so.

==== I was hopeful there was a chance of a legitimate conservative party forming from this spark. ====
I am too. Whether it emerges from the ashes of the republican party or rises from those ashes to form a new party, I don’t really care, as long as Obama and democrats are not in control.

Angie in PA,
Just one? Prescription drug coverage.

I’m so glad we have a president who wants us to be just like France, Spain and China.

America has sprawling suburbs that no trains can reach. Rail will only work if people can take there cars with them.

Every one of these GLORIOUS and unnecessary transportation projects are perfect vehicles for kickbacks to special interests, especially Unions, as Obama instituted by Presidential order, that all projects must be done by union “shops”. This another example of raping taxpayers and our childrens financial future to secure his own political position. The democrats openly admit this about buying a “permanent democratic majority”
In the meantime Obama has filed his Income tax forms and we find Michelle has stolen a salary of $63,000 from a University of Chicago Job that she has been on leave of absence from since 2007, and officially quit in January 9th, 2009, not having worked a single day in-between.
They document this for us:
From the University Of Chicago’s News Office:
Michelle Obama Resigns Position at University of Chicago Medical Center
January 9, 2009
Michelle Obama has resigned her leadership post at the University of Chicago Medical Center as she prepares to take on her new role at the White House as First Lady.
During the presidential campaign, she had been on leave as Vice President for Community and External Affairs at the Medical Center…”
Her position was deleted.
So, officially, Mrs. Obama was on a ‘leave of absence’ since May 2007. (She didn’t quit, as the Post article had suggested, lest she not have a job if Mr. Obama lost the election.)
Still, we know this is Chicago, but isn’t $63,000 quite a lot for a no-show job?

Already rewriting history I see….yes there was bi-partisan support for the bill that was used to start the Iraq invasion. If you read the bill, you’d realize there were all sorts of stipulations that Bush chose to ignore.
Our problems today are not going to solve themselves if everyone is left to their own devices. I don’t see Wall Street or US car company executives funding public works out of their own pockets. There is a point where individual greed drowns out needs of the greater whole…which is where “Conservative” fiscal policies have brought us to.
At least give Obama some time to effect change. We’re only in month four and you would think it was four years the way the he’s being treated by the new minority.

Nobama:”Keep in mind there has never been a road project that came in on budget, or even close.”
The repaving of I-405 through Bellevue, WA came in on schedule and under budget about 10 years ago. The repair of the I580/I880 collapsed bit of bridge in 2007 did too. Road projects come in on budget all the time, that just doesn’t make news. Currently, bids are coming in below the expected cost for many roads project. Big surprise – it’s a buyers market for construction, a great time to be putting projects out to bid. Those bids are legal contracts where the contractor is committing to a price, so while change orders are to be expected based on unforseen site issues it would be very surprising if they all go over budget. A repaving project in Kansas is MUCH different than a tunnel under Boston.

High Speed Rail is money well spent. It’s so Great to see a president using his head. Lot’s of rush-listening idiots here just can’t bare to see a Democrat be so well liked, so respected around the world, and intelligent. It’s gonna be a long 8 years for these dooms-dayer republicans.

This is the bridge to nowhere and everywhere multiplied millions of times over.
Keep in mind there has never been a road project that came in on budget, or even close. Whatever claims it will cost, we can be certain it will cost multiples of the original price, ala “the big dig”.
There will be unimagined payoffs built into this project.
THE WORKING AMERICANS WILL PAY, AND PAY, AND PAY AND PAY INTO INFINITY.
But hey, he will sure buy a lot of power and votes for the next election!!

There is no downside to building a high speed rail system. It’s a green worthy idea that benefits the entire country. Clean green travel, faster cheaper and even safer.Will it create jobs? Absolutely. Will it bankrupt our nation? No. Will it cause a tax increase? No it will create revenue. Will it face opposition? Without a doubt. Are there good reasons not to build it. Not at all. The only bankruptcy we should fear is in our minds. Only the few will allow that to happen. The proud will move forward.

Well, I’m always trying to find something to agree with the president about, so I’ll take it. No, I do not want to invest buckets of money in high speed rail. But I do think that we need to develop high speed rail and that it will take government involvement to provide the massive amounts of money needed. So I am supproting him here.
The problem is that he wants to do too many of these things at once– let’s concentrate on one or two and make progress incrementally. DOn’t try to oversell the “this will stimulate the economy” nonsense. Just admit that in the long run, we need it, so we need to invest the money now.
And then let’s talk nuclear power– another important area where we need to catch up to other countries in terms of acceptance and willingness to invest.

There is no downside to building a high speed rail system. It’s a green worthy idea that benefits the entire country. Clean green travel, faster cheaper and even safer.Will it create jobs? Absolutely. Will it bankrupt our nation? No. Will it cause a tax increase? No it will create revenue. Will it face opposition? Without a doubt. Are there good reasons not to build it. Not at all. The only bankruptcy we should fear is in our minds. Only the few will allow that to happen. The proud will move forward.
Posted by: Jazzjamessdny | Apr 16, 2009 1:30:53 PM
————-
Well that sounds so pretty. Hope and change, hope and change.
Too bad it is not based in reality.
There is no precedent to believe it will not be a constant taxpayer drain. There is precedent that proves that it will be a huge financial mistake.
Amtrak faces bankruptcy and has to be bailed out year after year. Billions of taxpayer dollars for someone elses high hopes that failed.
This system will cost more than Amtrak ever imagined. What do you suppose the cost of a ticket would be to make the cost of building and managing this system back , before it needs to be refurbished or replaced.
Here on earth we see boondoggles for what they are. Another permanent drain on the taxpayer to maintain it, after the massive debt we accrue to build it.

I agree with much of what you say, moderate, except for the “now” part. I don’t see any reason why we need to invest(spend taxpayer money we don’t have) the money now.
Posted by: MayBee | Apr 16, 2009 1:42:29 PM-
————
I agree but Obama wants the benefit and the pain to the taxpayer is not his concern.
Consider this. He begins this massive debt-ridden project with borrowed dollars. This will indeed create jobs and work, which will help him and other dems get reelected.
When the pain of the debt and the cost to taxpayers to pay for construction, interest on just this debt, and to manage this system kicks in, it will not be his problem anymore. This is just one more thing to add to his pile of vote buying programs that will force the US to raise taxes so high that we will never recover.
Our kids will never enjoy the opportunity and way of life that we grew up with and until now enjoyed.

“But I do think that we need to develop high speed rail and that it will take government involvement to provide the massive amounts of money needed. So I am supproting him here.”
Let us all now ponder the question, WHY will it take government investment? If there would be insufficient private investment in such a project to get it done, can anyone imagine what the reason is?
True, we are “behind” Europe in constructing high-speed rail, just s we were behind Moscow in our subway systems. We are also “behind” Europe in taxation and unemployment, just to name two, and there’s a very good reason for that.

“I don’t see Wall Street or US car company executives funding public works out of their own pockets.”
Do you ever wonder why? If the transit riders’ demand for high-speed rail were such that they would bear the cost of building and operating it, in a free society it would have been built long ago. Why should it be subsidized by people who don’t want to ride it, or who don’t think it’s worth the cost?

“No one ever thought that the interstate highway system would support itself (it still doesn’t – the gas tax is far too low to even cover maintenance).”
The interstate system had a national-defense purpose (otherwise, in that more strict-constructionist era, it would have been unconstitutional to build it), and it confers a benefit on virtually the entire nation, much like public education. Nothing of the kind can be said for high-speed rail.

Thought I posted this item from Investors’ Business Daily earlier, but I can’t find it. So here we go again:
“But for every one that is hired for a green job, he or she will displace several already at work. That’s no stimulus. That’s not a gale of creative destruction. That’s the road to a depression.
“We’re not basing our claim merely on a gut feeling but rather on a study conducted by Gabriel Calzada Alvarez, an economics professor at Juan Carlos University in Madrid, Spain.
“‘The U.S. should expect a loss of at least 2.2 jobs on average, or about nine jobs lost for every four (green jobs) created,’ Alvarez wrote in his 41-page study of Spain’s own green-job revolution.
“‘An examination of Europe’s experience’ in trying to green the economy, which dates back to 1997, ‘reveals these policies to be terribly economically counterproductive.’”

MayBee:”jhw- I can’t listen to it right now, so thanks for that information.
Surely he didn’t say 300 mph, though. 300 kmh, perhaps?”
300 mph. China may have thrown up 18 miles or so of maglev that hits 300 mph, but Japan is looking to build an entire system on the technology.

I agree with facist hyena. If there is a profit to be made some privte sector entrepreneur would jump on it. Not only that they would complete the project more efficiently and do it cheaper. The government doesn’t care about our money and they will spend as much of it as they feel the need to get the job done. A private business has to compete for our business, they have to make a product that the public wants so if the government has to subsidize anything you know it is useless because if Americans actually had a high enough demand for something it would have been created by a private business or entrepreneur.

“Japan, the nation that unveiled the first highspeed rail system, is already at work building the next. a line that will connect Tokyo to Osaka at speeds of over 300 mph.”
So how’s Japan’s economy been doing in recent decades? (Remember the “Atari liberals?”)

Eric:”I agree with facist hyena. If there is a profit to be made some privte sector entrepreneur would jump on it. Not only that they would complete the project more efficiently and do it cheaper.”
Can you give an example of when this has ever happened for a valuable infrastructure project? I don’t think it never happens – isn’t there a privately built toll road in Texas? – but it is awfully rare. Too many of the economic benefits are external to the project and cannot be monetized by the operator.
For example, if a high speed train makes Poughskeepsie suddenly 20 minutes away from Grand Central Terminal, then the value of land in Poughskeepsie will increase fivefold overnight. But the building of the rail line won’t earn a cent from that increased value – it’ll all go to the current owners and into the city, county, and state tax coffers.
This is a classic case of what government is designed to do. To do the projects that greatly enrich general society but cannot be completely monetized.

but Japan is looking to build an entire system on the technology.
=====
Looking to build an entire system that doesn’t run on the rails already laid for the current system.

“The numbers on Hoover dam were atrocious.” They sure were, and that’s another good reason–besides the environmental ones–why it should never have been built. All the power it now provides could be provided by profit-making, privately-constructed public utilities.
As for the Spaniard’s study, I haven’t read it other than what is excerpted in the IBD. (The fact that he is engaged in disproving the global-warming fraud is no knock against him in my book, but I realize it’s fatal In the Church of Warming Catastrophe.) In any event, I’d be interested to see any analysis that contradicts his conclusions, and would happily give it a read.

OspendO seems to think money grows on trees are something—–Is he out of touch with whats happening in America or he doen’t care, oops sorry I forgot he doen’t care. And I’m sick of hearing about how they have been trying to clean up the mess that was left, they are trying to see if they can out spend any president we’ve ever had and doing a darn good job at it. Of course why should he care about us poor folks out here with all the money he makes !!!!!!

Fascist Hyena:”The ones that required such subsidies (and not all of them did) did so for the same reason they failed, and should not have been built.”
The first transcontinental railroad that opened up the West for colonization and was pivotal to our growth as a nation. There is little doubt that later, non-subsidized railroads would not have been financially viable except for the population that the earlier railroads attracted West. It would have taken decades for population densities adequate to support a fully private railroad to walk West without this government action.
As far as I’m aware, the only non-subsidized transcontinental showed up 20 years after the initial link was created, when settlement had ‘tamed’ the West.

Poughskeepsie suddenly 20 minutes away from Grand Central Terminal, then the value of land in Poughskeepsie will increase fivefold overnight. ….
This is a classic case of what government is designed to do. To do the projects that greatly enrich general society but cannot be completely monetized.
===========
Does increasing the value of land in Poukeepsie actually greatly enrich general society? I would argue it enriches those who already own land there, and those who would collect property tax revenue.
It doesn’t so much benefit the town that didn’t get the rail line. And depending on the property tax set-up, it doesn’t benefit the homeowner who doesn’t want to move yet can’t afford increased property taxes.
The rail line also doesn’t necessarily benefit the people who now have a rail line running through their back yard.

Fascist Hyena: At the end of the day, your anarchist economic model has never been shown to work anywhere, ever. If you cannot even accept the proven cost/benefit of Hoover dam, then you are deliberately ignoring the fact based reality most of us need to live in. I can’t argue against religion.

If you cannot even accept the proven cost/benefit of Hoover dam, then you are deliberately ignoring the fact based reality most of us need to live in. I can’t argue against religion.
Posted by: jhw539 | Apr 16, 2009 2:39:14 PM

Now its clear.
Right wingers are fine with giving away our natural resources to the oil companies but are horrified by infrastructure investment.
Hopefully these idiots will never get in power again.

are horrified by infrastructure investment.
Hopefully these idiots will never get in power again.Posted by: Ryan C | Apr 16, 2009 2:59:07 PM
————-
Another example of your burning stupidity. An investment implies a return. The only return from this will be payoffs to unions and kickbacks to all associated industries in return for Obama and dem support in the future.
This is no investment.
It is an onerous, costly burden to the taxpayers for construction, maintenance, and just like Amtrak management.
Even the euro model has not been an “investment” although the land structure there makes such a system more necessary.
It is also an example of burning ignorance to think their needs mirror ours.
The only need for this system is to line Obama’s and his buddies pockets. Now for them it will be an investment.
For the rest of us it will be get screwed time.

“The only good brought by this system is democrat payoffs and vote buying.”
I think someone is setting up the excuses for when the GOP flounders in 2010.

“Yes the poorly run, taxpayer burden that is one of the transportation systems for the small part of the east coast, not all, that includes the commuter areas from Washington DC.”
Yeah why should we have an efficient public transportation between our legal, financial and political capitals.
What we were ever thinking.
“Every year billions are paid into this unnecessary boondoggle that should go bankrupt.”
I think the allocation for this year is $1.3B.
Not a small figure to be sure but shorts of your claims of billions.
“The benefit to the few is not offset by the cost to the many.”
“Amtrak carried 7.05 million passengers from October through December, the first quarter of fiscal year 2009.”

Nobama:”Amtrak was never utilized as promised when built. It is the only corollary we have. It was horribly over-run with construction costs, and graft, ”
Amtrak wasn’t “built,” it was formed from existing railways operating on existing lines. There wasn’t a big construction project when it was “built.” I was going to bring up the issue that all roadways are also heavily subsidized, yet they add great wealth to society, but if you’re just making stuff up I don’t see a point in debated.

Amtrak wasn’t “built,” it was formed from existing railways operating on existing lines. There wasn’t a big construction project when it was “built.” I was going to bring up the issue that all roadways are also heavily subsidized, yet they add great wealth to society, but if you’re just making stuff up I don’t see a point in debated.
Posted by: jhw539 | Apr 16, 2009 3:29:46 PM
—————
Are you kidding. There was a huge cost to bring this system together. It did not magically meld in to Amtrak with no additional infrastructure, not to mention the cost of acquiring the rest.
Yes, you have me there, I did not want to spend 20 paragraphs explaining the emergence of Amtrak so I used the umbrella word, built.
The POINT HOWEVER, is that it is a failing bankrupt system , that was never utilized as envisioned and is horribly mismanaged, required a fortune in investment for infrastructure and requires billions in bailouts EVERY YEAR from the taxpayers.
This system that Obama wants to build will be Amtrak tax burdens millions of times over. It will never be self sustaining, it will never ever be utilized as advertised- it will become an onerous burden to the taxpayers for generations, just as Amtrak has.
Democrats will use this boondoggle for an eternity of kickbacks and payoffs to unions and other special interests.
Just as democrats refuse to allow a restructure of amtrak to protect their patronage union jobs, they will do the same with this system.

“requires billions in bailouts EVERY YEAR from the taxpayers.”
The operating budget for Amtrak is $1.3B this year.
But hey you and honesty go together like you and sanity.

The flat out subsidies, equal or exceed the operating expense for amtrak and do not begin to include the multiple, supplemental, infrastructure or other billions paid by taxpayers to support
Amtrak. Read my previous post.
Why do you suppose the government has to subsidize more than it costs to operate the entire system?
What do you think that will mean when the new system is built?
We are screwed.
Actual annual subsidies listed below do not include special subsidies and infrastructure dollars, only a few of which were listed in my previous posts.
Since Amtrak’s creation in 1970, the executive branch has consistently proposed the least costly Amtrak budget. President George W. Bush has pro­posed that Amtrak receive $900 million in taxpayer subsidies for fiscal year (FY) 2008,[2] the same amount that he proposed for FY 2007. However, Congress rejected the President’s FY 2007 request and instead provided Amtrak with a subsidy of $1.294 billion, the same as for FY 2006.[3]
By contrast, Amtrak has asked Congress for $1.680 billion for FY 2008—a significant increase over the FY 2007 subsidy—but unlike the previous year’s request,[4] this year’s makes no particular commit­ment to implement major reforms.

“The flat out subsidies, equal or exceed the operating expense for amtrak and do not begin to include the multiple, supplemental, infrastructure or other billions paid by taxpayers to support Amtrak.”
Yes I was wrong to call the $1.3B an operating budget since that number is the fed subsidy.
“February 6, 2008—President George W. Bush has presented Congress with a $3.1 trillion budget for Fiscal Year 2009 and once again he proposes cutting Amtrak to a level that would cripple the service. The Bush Budget proposes 40% less than what Amtrak received for FY 2008. Amtrak received $1.325 billion for FY 2008.
The President is requesting $900 million dollars for Amtrak, of which $500 million would be for capital improvements and debt service and $100 million for state grants–which leaves $300 million for operations. This proposal is $430 million less than what Amtrak received for this year.”
FY2008 Amtrak Fed Funding: $1.3B
FY2009 Amtrak Fed Funding: Though Bush proposed $900M, I found the final number was $1.5B.
Amtrak itself generates about $2.5B with a operating cost around $3.6B

The High Speed Rail Act of 2001 did not pass.
“What happened to the ticket money do you suppose? Is it so minimal it does not begin to touch what it costs to operate the system? Was it used for payoffs?”
Yeah Amtrak is a massive scam where politicans keep all ticket revenues.
Next time break the pill in half.
Posted by: Ryan C | Apr 16, 2009 4:33:10 PM
Amtrak Pushes for Federal Bond Bill
—————
The initial version failed but the same year they passed a more expensive version as part of the tax bill.
Sorry Ryan, wrong again.
On February 6, 2001 Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) introduced the High-Speed Rail Investment Act of 2001 (HSRIA). The legislation is almost identical to that of last year’s High-Speed Rail Investment Act (S. 1900), which narrowly failed to pass. The recently introduced high-speed rail legislation will allow $12 billion (as opposed to $10 billion proposed last session) in Amtrak financed bonds to be sold over the next decade. The bonds are intended to supply Amtrak with funds to develop a national high-speed rail system. States will be required to make a match of 20 percent of the cost of the project. The bill enjoys bipartisan support with 51 cosponsors including Majority Leader Sen. Lott (R-Miss) and Minority Leader Sen. Daschle (D-Ill). Supporters of the measure consider the bill necessary to help the nation’s overburdened highways and airways.
The HSRIA (which passed the House as part of its tax bill)
———
You yourself Ryan have stated that the operating expenses of Amtrak equal 1.3 billion,
The yearly subsidy, (excluding infrastructure and the additional handouts listed above), equal and
in 2008 exceed operating expenses.
It sure sounds like some kind of scam.
Taxpayers bear the full load for Amtrak as though they had no income whatsoever,
This will surely be the model for the new system as it has worked so well in the past.

Why dont they just raise the price of train tickets for everyone by like $10? Why do they have to spend our tax money to help a private company? Or would that make too much sense. You wouldnt be able to float kick-backs to the union bosses and fat cats that way huh Obama?

jhw539: Can you give an example of when this has ever happened for a valuable infrastructure project?
Yes I can. Both in souther california and in France there were private companies that opened toll roads that are much more efficient. Though they are expensive, time is money for some people and getting to bypass all the traffic and congestion on the other public freeways is the choice they make. And for the more cost effective aspect you can just go look at the $5,000 hammer for the Army that our governent bought. They spend way more than they need to on any project because it isn’t their money.

Dont you think high speed railways would be a bigger terrorist target than airplanes especially if they were not checking everyones bags and who rides it and leaves a backpack full of explosives on a train etc? Ask the people in the Madrid, Spain train bombing how they feel about the safety of high speed rail? Then think about how long it will take to security scan all the extra people riding before they board. I am surprised Obama isnt saying we need Disney World style monorails all over the place thats how ridiculous it sounds.

So you mean you dont think if there were twice as many trains with double the amount of people riding going twice as fast that terrorists wouldnt try to bomb, de-rail or otherwise attack them? Imagine if train stations became like the airport? Ridiculously over priced and long lines. Riding around on trains with smell b.o. laden strangers and terrorists??? No thanks I’ll stick with my automobile!

Um no the term ‘investing’ implies there will be a return of more money on your investment. Giving money to a private company to expand (rather than just have it raise its prices) and not getting any of the profit in return is not an investment. Its wasteful. Keep going to school eventually you will learn what investments are. Think for yourself dont let others just blindly lead you into oblivion.

“No thanks I’ll stick with my automobile!”
Sure, that’ll keep you alive. That’s the problem with terrorism; it is only effective because of our irrational fear. Rationally, traffic and a dozen other daily life hazards are a 100 times more dangerous.

“They [terrorists] certainly won’t be able to hijack a high speed train and drive it into a skyscraper.”
Cute. But why would they even bother hijacking the train in the first place? They can simply blow up the tracks and derail it. Terrorism isn’t exactly rocket science.

How much will that cost us through the government…$100,000 or so a mile?
I guess every megalomaniac needs their Autobahn-type projects.

Jeez Obama,let’s not gear money towards more useful things like rebuilding the economy, stopping illegal immigration, and creating jobs. Let’s put that billionso f dollars towards a train.

The Republican critics would criticize everything Obama says or does..but who cares..they are in the minority now and all the polls show that most Americans support president Obama’s policies overwhelmingly..that is good! Because he seems to be making sense with everything he has said or done so far. The high speed railway is a good investment and makes a lot of sense. President Obama, you are doing an excellent job..keep it up!

High Speed rail is a pie in the sky dream by some people that think America sould be more like Europe. It will not happen for most Americans. Rails will not be a convient choice of travel, simply because the lines do not go to all the cities, nor do they go where Americans want to travel to. So I see it as another 8Bn dollar money pit project.

Excellent plan Mr. President, let’s spend money on America’s infrastructure and look forward towards the future… Most American’s have short term memories, just last summer we were spending nearly 5 dollars a gallon, why wait until the oil industry decides to raise gas prices again!! If China can build a high speed rail system, why can’t we!! And for American’s who believe this is foolish idea you probably don’t travel outside your city limit or state so having a high speed rail system would seem wasteful…

chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-
chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-WOOOOOOOWWWOOO
oooooooooooooooOOOOOO!!!!!! All Aboaaaard the Obama socialism choo choo! Do you think tickets will cost less or more?? Do you think it will be more or less of a terror target (miles and miles of high speed rails)! A train isnt like a car if the rails are broken or attacked by terrorists the whole thing crashes!!! You know the NAZI’s wanted everyone to ride trains to – right to the concentration camp especially if you dont agree. They remind me of the democrats. Blind loyalty to their fearless leader without
question and the heck with all those who disagree. Since when is diesel fuel better for the environment. Ride the train from Denville to Newark NJ and you
will see the pollution that trains cause!

All Omomo can say is MORE MONEY, SPEND SPEND SPEND!!!!!THIS NEEDS TO STOP !!!!

While I personally like the idea of an efficient high-speed rail system, the timing couldn’t be worse. Who is going to pay for all of Obama’s proposed spending?
Plus, rail works in Europe because, in case Obama hasn’t noticed, Europe is much more compact than the U.S.A., so compact in fact, that many people don’t feel the need to mess with the hassle and expense of owning a car.

Personally i think America is on the right track now but Obama should be more careful now so he doesn’t misuse the world’s power, showing the world how terrorist were being treated is a waste of sensitive information, Its like Great america is becoming weak, common I think he is going too far now, He should just do what is right and stop exposing Washington top secrets too much