Off-the-Rails Spending
Tags: Buffalo, Economy, fund, funding, jobs, recovery, Rochester, stimulus, unemployment, Washington
We need government-funded trains to facilitate travel across the country. On top of that, their construction will spur financial recovery. That’s because it’s 1936. Regrettably, when it comes to fixing and administering the economy, we’re still coping with a Depression mentality; further, Washington is strangely pushing a mode of transportation that was popular in the same era. Next, we’ll take our dimes to the cinema and buy tickets for a talkie.
Back here in the alleged present, many states are competing against each other in the name of getting the feds to buy them choo-choos. It’s a race that shouldn’t be run and is worth losing. Of course, some media outlets see nothing but currency raining upon certain well-connected states:
New York finished an unimpressive eighth Thursday in the race to share $8 billion in federal money to develop high-speed passenger rail service.
The $151 million awarded to the state is a small fraction of the amounts awarded to other states. The biggest winner, California, got $2.3 billion, and Florida got $1.25 billion.
Grabbing the most federal money counts as a lousy contest victory. On the other hand: jobs! Jobs! Jobs! Not really, but: jobs!
“This is great news for New York,” Senator (Kirsten) Gillibrand said. “Building high-speed rail here will connect more commuters and businesses, create jobs immediately and help rebuild our economy for the long term.
The junior senator’s press release carries on a bit longer about how any day now the stimulus will align the planets and remove the calories from birthday cake while proving employment for 102 percent of Americans. Please hear her out: she should get to enjoy being senator while she can in case her time is running short.
Still, Gillibrand disregards why train-builders aren’t already in action: the government’s in the way. As usual, the same entity that’s running a debt of $12 million million or so is futilely trying to create jobs by tossing even more cash at the problem. Unfortunately, a year of Obamanomics hasn’t precisely enriched anyone, especially the one out of about every 10 Americans who aren’t working at all. Spending more federal money to repair the economy is like trying to sober up with a swig from the Beefeater bottle.
Perversely, the government is creating circumstances so business-hostile that only same government can afford major projects. Of course, neither many media outlets nor the federal monstrosity itself ever considers from where the funding comes. To clarify: they’re taking, borrowing, or printing money, all of which are diametrically different from earning it. Only those accountable to customers truly understand each dollar’s value; of course, they’re also the ones who aren’t being permitted to unilaterally initiate railway construction.
Private companies would be far better at determining if we want or need hopped-up trains. If genuine demand existed for passenger railways, investors would be fighting to lay down track first. Naturally, they’d be looking to make money in exchange for offering transportation. Instead, states get money from the communal pile to build away despite the dubious demand level.
We seem to get around just fine without a speedier Amtrak at our disposal. Take Buffalo’s traveling options, which epitomize the rail service’s gratuitousness. People heading to Rochester or Albany get on the Thruway; those with destinations in different time zones get on a plane.
In broader terms, America’s geography makes train travel impractical in most cases. As for the exceptions, some of the remaining corporations not owned by the public should be allowed to construct practical railways and reap the ensuing benefits from grateful riders.
And we’ve already seen the futility of such funding and planning. This city has endured wasting money on a useless track project before: the present scheme reeks of the Metro Rail.
Consider what this city endured to get the train down Main. It took ages to build, especially considering the paltry 6.2 miles it covers. It cost an extraordinary amount even by public construction standards. It doesn’t go much of anywhere, especially if one wants to head left or right. It’s often light on users despite the fact it was built because we allegedly needed it. It firmly shoved a downtown district that was teetering on a precipice. Other than that, we should thank the government for what they did to help us. When it comes to bullet trains in New York, we’ll go nowhere faster.
Anthony Bialy is a freelance writer and “Red Eye” Conservative in Western New York. He also writes columns for Smart Girl Nation. Follow Anthony on Twitter.
The Federal Gov’t confiscated $1.25B to build a train from Tampa to Orlando…
Will that R&R line EVER turn a profit?
Former Buffaloian living in S Fla. I sit at the RR crossings watching our Tri-Rail pubic transport go by with about 12 riders total on 3 cars! It’s a joke. Nobody takes the train (except Joe Biden). More plundering of the taxpayers. Tea Party alive and well in Fla. Crist the RINO is a goner. Vote Rubio!