Several of my colleagues sent me this article this morning. It's quite good.
However, it comes with a poll, seeking our opinion on what we want done about high-speed rail. The questions range from "Go ahead with the construction as currently planned," all the way to "Pull the plug on the entire project." Currently the results indicate that 16.33% want the project to go ahead, while 63.27% want the plug pulled on the entire project.
Before you start popping Champagne corks, you should know that those percentages are based on 8 and 31 votes respectively at the time I saw this. Polls, most polls especially like this one, are not worth very much.
The rail authority has launched several such polls, which in politics are called 'push-polls' since they word their questions along the lines of "When did you stop beating your wife?" If you see what I mean. Needless to say, the rail authority polls told them exactly what they want to hear; that everyone in the Universe loves high-speed rail and that the rail authority should spend all the tax dollars they can get their hands on.
So, while we can safely vote on this poll but ignore the results, the article itself makes really good points. Not that there's anything new here. We've been saying most of this in this blog a number of times. However, here it is very well said, and the bottom line is. . . . . the bottom line. The finances.
As a nation, we have grossly over-spent on our credit cards and are now in very deep debt. But, that basic fact is ignored by greedy ambitions to spend even more borrowed dollars on something we don't need and can't afford. If you're in a very deep hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging.
Contrary to Democrats' thinking on this, California cannot afford the "free"so-called stimulus funds from Washington which, for this project, has a whole cat's-cradle tangle of strings attached to it that will tie this state down into even more debt than most of us now understand.
Contrary to Democrats' thinking on this, California cannot afford the "free"so-called stimulus funds from Washington which, for this project, has a whole cat's-cradle tangle of strings attached to it that will tie this state down into even more debt than most of us now understand.
So, stop already! Pull the plug!
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Reckless rail
08:29 PM PST on Friday, January 28, 2011
The Press-Enterprise
California cannot build a bullet train on wishful thinking. So the state should apply the brakes to its high-speed rail project. Pushing ahead with plans disconnected from financial and political reality invites disaster, not progress.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority plans to start construction next year on a 120-mile stretch between Bakersfield and Fresno. By 2020, the $43 billion rail line is supposed to link Los Angeles and San Francisco, whisking riders up and down the state at speeds up to 220 mph.
Thank you, we have already counted your vote.
But troubling financial questions threaten to derail those plans, which should wave a warning flag in front of this speeding project. Finishing this high-speed line requires money the agency does not have -- funds that look increasingly unlikely to materialize.
So far, the state has landed more than $3 billion in federal funds, and has money from a $9.95 billion rail bond California voters passed in 2008. But no one knows where the remainder of the $43 billion cost will come from.
The rail plans, for example, call for $17 billion to $19 billion in federal money to pay for the bullet train. But counting on more federal money is a hail-Mary play, given the political trends in Washington.
The Republicans who now control the House want to cut federal spending, not pony up additional billions for dubious rail projects. The Republican Study Committee, a group of 175 House Republicans, last week unveiled a plan to trim federal spending by $2.5 trillion over the next decade.
Among the cuts: a $2.5 billion annual savings by scuttling money for high-speed rail.
Besides, the federal government has no money to waste on nonessentials. The Congressional Budget Office said Thursday that the federal deficit for the year will hit $1.5 trillion. A government essentially borrowing 40 cents of every dollar it spends should focus first on funding necessary public services -- and high-speed rail falls nowhere on that list.
The High-Speed Rail Peer Review Group, an independent watchdog panel created by the 2008 bond measure, raised the same question last month. The review group said there was an "an air of unreality about a plan that includes $17 to $19 billion in 'free' federal funding from programs that do not yet exist." The panel also noted that without such an infusion of taxpayers' money, the $10 billion to $12 billion in private investment the rail line plans on was also unlikely.
And the panel also said that the project's doubtful passenger estimates call into question the rail line's "fundamental basis for going forward." Drawing sufficient riders is crucial if the system is to pay its own operating costs.
Those are not minor concerns, but rather crucial gaps in an expensive and risky proposition. The state should rethink this project. High-speed rail should not mean faster travel toward financial ruin.
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