Imagine a high-speed train zooming down hundreds of miles of glistening train track stretching across sunny California, connecting Anaheim to San Francisco. It’s a bullet train dream, and it’s a prime example of President Barack Obama’s latest plan to create jobs in America. The trouble is that this dream is far from reality. The Los Angeles Times reported this week that the California high-speed train–which is funded in part by $3 billion in federal grants from President Obama’s stimulus–is now expected to cost $98 billion, twice what was expected, and will …
Want a fast way to blow some taxpayer dollars? Buy a ticket on President Barack Obama’s high-speed spending trains. High-speed rail is one of the president’s pie-in-the-sky green energy dreams, which would do little to relieve Americans who are suffering the effects of high gasoline prices. The president reaffirmed his commitment to high-speed rail in grand fashion this week with the announcement of $2.02 billion in funding for 22 projects in 15 states. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the cash will “[bring] President Obama’s vision of American high-speed rail one step …
Last week, Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) rejected $2.4 billion in federal funding for a proposed high-speed rail line from Tampa to Orlando. The governor’s decision was based upon the likelihood of an up to $3 billion cost overrun, the likelihood of operating subsidies, and the requirement that the federal grant would have to be repaid if trains were not operating frequently enough, even if they were nearly empty. Governor Scott joins other governors in this trend: Governor Chris Christie (R), who canceled a new Hudson River tunnel that was …
Elected officials in Washington finally seem to get it that something must be done to reduce federal spending. Last week, House Republicans unveiled a plan to cut $74 billion from President Obama’s budget request for this year, and members of the Republican Study Committee have proposed an even more ambitious plan to cut $2.5 trillion over the next decade. Members of both parties in the Senate are eyeing plans for long-term deficit reduction. Even President Obama, in his 2011 State of the Union address, confessed that “we have to confront …
President Obama’s proposed $53-billion more for “high-speed rail” (on top of a previous $10-billion) is a testimony to the power of adjectives. If it were labeled “plain old rail travel” it would lack the pizazz but would be far more accurate. Understating costs, overstating benefits, and lots of supersonic rhetoric are the selling points for high-speed rail. The “high speed” adjective invokes thoughts of bullet trains speeding at 150 mph, 200 mph or more. The reality of Obama’s plan is—at best—the 85 mph that is the average speed of America’s …
Obama Replaces Costly High-Speed Rail Plan With High-Speed Bus Plan Last month, after the governor-elects of Ohio and Wisconsin (John Kasich and Scott Walker respectively) each declined to waste any more taxpayer money on high-speed rail boondoggles, the Obama administration quickly announced they would take federal transportation dollars away from those states and give them to California’s high-speed rail project. As we noted at the time, even Californian Democratic lawmakers have dubbed the California project a Super Train to Nowhere. Finally, The Washington Post is also taking notice:
Obama Replaces Costly High-Speed Rail Plan With High-Speed Bus Plan Yesterday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood rescinded nearly $1.2 billion in stimulus funds from Wisconsin and Ohio after the states’ respective newly-elected governors, Scott Walker and John Kasich respectively, said they would follow through on their campaign promise not to waste their states’ money on high speed rail. So what does the Obama administration plan to do with this $1.2 billion? Pay for unemployment benefits? Balance the budget? Pay down the debt? No, of course not. They are going to spend …
The Obama administration is still in denial about the message the American people sent Washington last Tuesday. In letters to Ohio Governor-elect John Kasich and Wisconsin Governor-elect Scott Walker, obtained by Reuters, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood threatened to take away stimulus money from the states unless they used it for President Barack Obama’s high-speed rail plans. LaHood wrote: I respect the authority of governors to make decisions for their states. If, however, you choose not to participate in the program, we would like to engage in an orderly transition to …
President Barack Obama famously believes that all of his policies are supported by “facts and science,” while opposition to his policies comes only from “fear and frustration.” As The Washington Post documented twice last weekend, that is just plain false. First Charles Lane reports: The Obama Energy Department has suggested that, with the help of federal money, manufacturers can ramp up mass production and bring the price of electric-car battery packs down 70 percent by 2014 – thus rendering the cars more affordable. But J.D. Power is skeptical. “Declines of …
The failures of President Barack Obama’s $862 billion stimulus are legend, but the $8 billion the Obama administration will waste on high-speed rail is particularly galling. The New York Times reports today: The drive from Orlando to Tampa takes only 90 minutes or so. Despite the short distance, the Obama administration awarded Florida $1.25 billion in stimulus money to link the cities with a fast train to help kick off its efforts to bring high-speed rail service to the United States. … Proponents of high-speed rail worry that the new …
