Why do we have one of the WORST Railway systems in the world?
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inb4 someone points out that traveling by foot or horseback is even safer
Those are actually both much more dangerous than air or train travel.
I don't think I've ever wasted 2 1/2 hours getting through security. Platinum or first class, will get you through security in ten minutes average. Just gotta make sure you checkin over thirty minutes before your flight, so you don't have to collect your ticket from the counter.
Because it's 2011. Railroads were awesome in 1850. If you want railroads, you can elect train obsessed liberals into office, and you will eventually get them. And your taxes will go up.
well the way i look at it is our countries are huge. and laying all the tracks would be expensive.
but i think the real problem would be... who the hell would use it? They have a high speed rail system that goes to like 4 cities in my state and the only people who use it are people who have jobs in one of those cities but live in a different city and its already having financial issues after being open for like 3 years.
I really don't see a point in high speed rail at the moment. In the future yea it would be nice, but right now almost every american family has a car and the highway system is good enough.
I don't know why anyone would use it except maybe for vacations or business trips. Then the question of affordability comes in when you actually get to your destination you have no car so you either pay for cabs to get everywhere or rent out a car anyway.
Other countries invest into them because of huge population density in such small land areas. for example japan, lots of people live outside tokyo and take the railways to get into the city for work. I don't think there is a lot of people in the US or Canada in that situation, Id be guessing thats where most of the revenue would come from. In the end they probably wouldnt be used very much and they would end up driving the prices up to cover losses and it would end up costing just as much to fly. like amtrak.
but i think the real problem would be... who the hell would use it? They have a high speed rail system that goes to like 4 cities in my state and the only people who use it are people who have jobs in one of those cities but live in a different city and its already having financial issues after being open for like 3 years.
I really don't see a point in high speed rail at the moment. In the future yea it would be nice, but right now almost every american family has a car and the highway system is good enough.
I don't know why anyone would use it except maybe for vacations or business trips. Then the question of affordability comes in when you actually get to your destination you have no car so you either pay for cabs to get everywhere or rent out a car anyway.
Other countries invest into them because of huge population density in such small land areas. for example japan, lots of people live outside tokyo and take the railways to get into the city for work. I don't think there is a lot of people in the US or Canada in that situation, Id be guessing thats where most of the revenue would come from. In the end they probably wouldnt be used very much and they would end up driving the prices up to cover losses and it would end up costing just as much to fly. like amtrak.
China now spends about $100 billion a year on creating high speed rail. The US has started to spend around $3 billion a year.
Different countries have different priorities, lol
In the USA the people have spoken and they prefer planes and cars. In China... do the people get to speak?
Different countries do have different priorities.
As for the military, if not US who?
Who for what? Empire building? Acting as world police?
Would the US military still get an average of $2,500 from each person, per year, if the people were able to show what they really prefer via donation instead of taxation?
The military budget has gone from $300 billion in 2000 to over $700 billion. Many supposedly frugal conservatives ignore that, while instead they have plenty of time to get all butthurt over a few billion for railroads, NASA or a few million for public radio.
Public Poll Shows Bipartisan Support for Public Rail Funding | INFRASTRUCTURIST
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4CDetrbOOE&feature=related]YouTube - Ron Paul Slams Republicans For Defunding NPR And Defending War[/ame]
Bullshit. I said plane crash vs train crash or car crash, not air travel vs other forms of travel (those statistics are irrelevant because you are concerned with the odds of surviving a mishap, not the occurrence of the mishap itself). Air crashes are the most dangerous types of vehicular crashes.
^ Sitting at home and having your house hit by a nuclear missile would be an event much more likely to kill a person than the event of a person getting in a train crash. One of these events is much more likely to happen than the other though.
If the odds of getting in a train crash magically went up to 99%, you still wouldn't consider the odds for the occurrence of the mishap?
Riding in a plane or a train are both relatively safe compared to riding in a car.
If the odds of getting in a train crash magically went up to 99%, you still wouldn't consider the odds for the occurrence of the mishap?
Riding in a plane or a train are both relatively safe compared to riding in a car.
What empire? You want Iraq? We don't.
What do you think 9/11 cost the economy? Maybe a Trillion?
The Cost of September 11
I do not know this source, it was #1 in Google. But even Wikipedia, who I hate giving links to, says that it cost NY alone over $95 billion.
I know government spending is inefficient, but there still is a multiplier effect, of the military spending into the economy.
Yeah, its called 2 wars and a bunch of other crap. Do not worry, someday there will be another Bill Clinton to slash the budget and declare a "peace dividend"
Why do you not show the taxpayers how they are subsidizing a rail system that no one uses? Good old publicly owned Amtrak. Who hoo! I can fly Southwest all over the place for $39. THe last time I went through the airport TSA just let me go through, shoes and all - Ontario International
If NPR were not a propaganda machine for the left they would not have to worry. But you see, the left, cannot make it in a market system. They need Big Govt.
And what are the percentages of planes or trains that crash? Very similar I assume, so the likelihood of surviving the crash is more important.
Bases in 130 countries. Call it whatever you want.
Statements from Osama and research from US intelligence says that the US was choose as a target because of the US presence in other nations.
It's the same with spending on rail or whatever else.
That was actually started under Bush I. This article is from 1990 :
Cheney Peace Dividend | Cold War's 'Peace Dividend' Is in Jeopardy, Cheney Warns - Los Angeles Times
The poll was about high speed rail. Maybe they are saying they would use it if it was faster.
A red herring is an argument, given in response to another argument, which does not address the original issue.
Round peg, meet your hole:
Why do conservatives hate trains so much? - By David Weigel - Slate Magazine
China now spends about $100 billion a year on creating high speed rail. The US has started to spend around $3 billion a year.
Different countries have different priorities, lol
Everyone knows China's real military budget is 3-4 times what they report, which would put it at around 400-500 billion. Factor in the fact that the majority of US$ are going to current wars, and the fact that the Chinese Communists are actively developing weapons to defeat the US, and we're actually losing that battle.
But by all means, let's prattle on about "high-speed rail", one of Comrade Obama's dreams. Imagine how fast you could send the "extremists" to the re-education camps in those things!
Of course, that's why they're terrified of losing federal funding. Without it, all of their little local stations would collapse because of their massive subsidies. It's amazing how you're consistently full of inaccurate, misleading information. It's almost like you're paid to do it.
It's been a dream of Floridians for years, and they keep trying to get it passed, and it's nixed every time.
Ideally, a HS train from Tampa to Orlando, or Miami to Jacksonville would be unbelievably beneficial for Florida.
Ideally, a HS train from Tampa to Orlando, or Miami to Jacksonville would be unbelievably beneficial for Florida.
The US has an excellent freight rail system and most intra-city transit in the US involves distances beyond the break point where air is more economic than rail.
The Europeans can keep their boondoggle employment program rail systems and high freight costs. Shit the SNCF in France has more freight car maintenance workers than freight cars.
The Europeans can keep their boondoggle employment program rail systems and high freight costs. Shit the SNCF in France has more freight car maintenance workers than freight cars.