Tuesday, January 25, 2011

a modest proposal




My friends know that I have made this proposal since Obama got elected. I wish he would listen to me.

We should build a bullet train (a.k.a "fast train") link between the East and West coasts through both a Northern and Southern corridor, and link the two between, say Seattle and San Diego on the one side, and, say, New Haven and Jacksonville at the other. We should stipulate that any state which becomes a partner in the enterprise will have 2 stop stations in its borders. The United States government should be a partner, and private enterprise should be offered a chance to invest and profit.

We should stipulate that all the steel used to build this rail system will be manufactured in the United States, that the rolling stock will be built in the United States, and that all labor used in the effort will be legal residents of the U.S.

This would be a definite stimulus to the economy, it would fill the American people with imagination and hope, and it would bring our transportation system into the 21st Century.

7 comments:

scot s w said...

I agree with you wholeheartedly. Maybe you even have the politics right, but GOP governors in some states have refused the federal billions designated for their states (and oddly, this is popular with some in the states which have lost said billions). So there is a huge ingrained bias on the right against these trains, for reasons I cannot comprehend. They have no problem scrabbling for socialistic highway dollars, or runway money.

Meanwhile, Laos announced in December a $7billion high-speed rail project. It will be built by China and construction starts in April. Give the Chinese this: They act.

Irene said...

Maybe the bias is simply that the trains don't use gasoline.

Sparty said...

Can we tie this somehow to national defense? That worked for the interstate highway system.

Irene said...

Tie it to Jesus too - and maybe guns. Done deal! Seriously though, that's a good idea Sparty.

Bud said...

National Defense was the motivator for Eisenhower's push to built the interstate highway system. He had seen the highways in Germany and realized how important they could be in a future war.

I believe Bob is right, and I also believe it could be encapsulated in a national security argument.

But,more important, it could be shown to be a necessary feature of an American society that is modern and competitive and advanced.

Dashmann said...

The 91% income tax on rich people was also a big impetus to building the interstate highway system --
how are we going to approach doing anything like that with the current tax rates on the rich ??

Alice said...

Close libraries one or more days a week, like in Flint for a start. Cut funding for education. they get waaaay to much. Make poor people pay for the food they now get on assistance. We CAN preserve the pot of the rich b----.