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Governors in Wisconsin and Ohio gave back hundreds of millions in Federal funds for a choo-choo train. They believe the choo-choo train will cost their citizens hundreds of millions in the first few years, not have a significant ridership and create problems.
Sadly Arnold, like a kid at Christmas, is throwing a tantrum demanding we spend $200 billion on a train to nowhere for the rich elites and few others--and cost us what is left of our fiscal stability.
"The California High Speed Rail Authority, which wants to spend a mere $43 billion on the first leg of a proposed 220-mph rail network, has gained a reputation as a paragon of mismanagement and conflicts of interest. The authority’s chair, Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, has accused its staff of incompetence. Reports from the state auditor, the University of California Institute for Transportation Studies, and a committee of transportation professionals have all concluded that the authority’s cost projections are too low and its ridership revenue projections too high.
Although California voters approved $9 billion in bonds for the rail project, the approval was conditional on getting matching funds. So far, the state has received only about $2 billion from the federal government, which means it only has about $4 billion to spend on construction — less than 10 percent of the amount needed to build from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Given the improbability of finding the other 90 percent, and the fact that Republicans in Congress hope to take back some of the money that has already been granted for high-speed rail, the California rail project seems all but dead. The authority’s only hope is to spend enough money building a train to nowhere that politicians will feel compelled to fund the rest."
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Sadly Arnold, like a kid at Christmas, is throwing a tantrum demanding we spend $200 billion on a train to nowhere for the rich elites and few others--and cost us what is left of our fiscal stability.
"The California High Speed Rail Authority, which wants to spend a mere $43 billion on the first leg of a proposed 220-mph rail network, has gained a reputation as a paragon of mismanagement and conflicts of interest. The authority’s chair, Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, has accused its staff of incompetence. Reports from the state auditor, the University of California Institute for Transportation Studies, and a committee of transportation professionals have all concluded that the authority’s cost projections are too low and its ridership revenue projections too high.
Although California voters approved $9 billion in bonds for the rail project, the approval was conditional on getting matching funds. So far, the state has received only about $2 billion from the federal government, which means it only has about $4 billion to spend on construction — less than 10 percent of the amount needed to build from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Given the improbability of finding the other 90 percent, and the fact that Republicans in Congress hope to take back some of the money that has already been granted for high-speed rail, the California rail project seems all but dead. The authority’s only hope is to spend enough money building a train to nowhere that politicians will feel compelled to fund the rest."
More...