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 …
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) announced today that he is standing by his decision to cancel the under-construction ARC (Access to the Regional Core) rail tunnel under the Hudson River from New Jersey to New York. According to the AP, Christie was given four financial options for salvaging the …
Would you like a $14-billion taxpayer-funded tunnel in your town? How about a $500 million light rail train to nowhere? As state and local governments are under crushing budget constraints, mega-sized infrastructure boondoggles are cropping up all over the country. With the promise of “free money” from the federal government, …
As the national average of gasoline creeps to three dollars a gallon, economists are warning that high gas prices in the United States could slow the economic recovery. Other countries’ economies are recovering more quickly and increased production and activity is putting upward pressure on oil prices. That coupled with …
The auto industry has long been a target of environmental activists. The push to put American consumers in smaller cars has been made quite clear. First, the Obama Administration enacted higher fuel efficiency standards – standards laden with unintended consequences. Now Congress is considering a cap and trade proposal that, …
The Obama administration’s initial efforts at transportation policy are off to a rocky start. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood this morning came out in favor tracking and taxing drivers on the miles they drive instead of the amount of gas they consume. Almost immediately a spokesperson at the Transportation Department said …
In a process familiar to any troubled sub prime borrower, the current federal highway reauthorization bill spends more money than it takes in. Historically, any excess spending is paid through the Federal Highway Trust Fund and has always been exclusively funded through the gas tax. However, in an unprecedented action, …
The steep rise in gas prices has had a dramatic impact on American driving habits. According to Federal Highway Administration data, this May marked the seventh consecutive month that Americans drove fewer miles this year than the year before. Americans drove almost 10 billion fewer miles in May 2008 than …
