Obama's bullet train to bankruptcy

Shinkansen 700T train head at Kaoshung depot, ...Image via Wikipedia
David Hirsanyi:

...

How do we deal with this daunting future? Obama says that "none of us can predict with certainty what the next big industry will be or where the new jobs will come from." And by "none of us," he means you. Because Obama proceeded to give a speech that laid out exactly what needs innovating, which sectors will be innovative, where new jobs will be found and how we are going to get to those jobs. Can you say high-speed rail? The president can. He mentioned railroads six times, because how else are we going to win the 19th century back?

Actually, this fixation with building an extraordinarily expensive, outdated and tax-funded rail system is a great example of why central planning undermines progress.

By the time the president's promise of high-speed Internet for everyone comes to fruition, we'll probably be teleporting like Sulu. But at the very least, let's not re-fight the battles of the early 20th century. Someone already invented airplanes and cars, which, unlike trains, can be pointed in any direction we want, whenever we want, as often as we want.

...
While I borrowed the headline from Sarah Palin, I think Hirsanyi also puts his finger on why the US has not already built high speed rail. It is not likely to take us to where we want to do and it diverts resources from transportation that will. Then there is the spending that he want in spite of the election results that said voters wanted less spending. Obama is hoping to inspire to greater spending by talking about a 1950's satellite launch by the Russians. While that launch did inspire some engineering by the US to put a man on the moon it is unlikely to inspire us go go back to the future on steel rails.

Speaking of rails, the US Navy is having some success with rail guns that can launch shots at the enemy without chemicals. They can also be used to launch jets and UAVs from carriers. Someday they might be used to launch people into orbit. That is a rail project that has much more potential than trains stuck on a track on earth.
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Comments

  1. tommybarrett2:25 PM

    I would have to agree. Reno has especially been hard with Obama's policies and bankruptcy is becoming more and more popular.

    ReplyDelete

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