Rail, the Job Creator Republicans Prefer to ignore. See Chart.

[FayeforCure]

When you look at the following chart, think about where Republicans prefer to invest and how many jobs we get from their top choices:

[JeffreyS]

That's one for Facebook. Yes I am that guy who gets defriended for posting about politics.

[mtraininjax]

California took the money for High Speed Rail and they have to raise taxes to pay for it, nice. At least on this one, Scott got right. California is going bankrupt with towns that have declared bankruptcy, not so here in Florida.

[mtraininjax]

California's problems have exactly nothing to do with their rail system.

I disagree, they may not be directly correlated to their problems, but the fact that California has built an economic model of spending more than they take in, High Speed Rail will also be a huge spending project, with uncertainty of income and most likely operating at a loss. I think the stigma of California has been to spend, spend, spend, much like the USA in general. But HSR will be one of the most expensive projects for California to undertake, lots of risk at a time when they should be de-leveraging their risk, not piling it on.

California according to Gov Brown is operating with a 15.7 Billion Dollar shortfall. Florida's worst shortfall was closer to 4 Billion, yes some good projects were cut, but Scott, love him or hate him, worked with the politicos to come up with a resolution. It will be interesting to see what Brown and his politicos do to balance their budget, at a time when Federal help is offering less and less.

[mtraininjax]

Beside, California has been a republican state for eight years of the governator?

Stephen, to quote Ronald Reagan, THERE YOU GO AGAIN, Governor Jerry Brown assumed the governor's office January 3, 2011. So he has been there what, almost 18 months, and you act as if this is his first rodeo as governor, when last we checked he was also Governor from 1975-1983. You may know more about his record during his first terms as governor so I will defer to you on his greatness during those years.

I do know that last year, in California, Jerry vetoed the budget presented by his own party, claiming it to be unbalanced, which led to the state controller holding government checks for 12 days, which made many in California, very happy with Jerry back in office, as you can imagine. Now the state legislatures are looking to borrow 10 billion to get them to a balanced budget OR they will need to CUT education, limit the school year by a few weeks. So they have their own problems in Cali, with Jerry, who is on the clock, not Arni, I would encourage you to move on from the Arni days, but if you cannot, I understand, its easier to live in the past than put it behind you.

I agree that Highways lose money, no argument from me. State run highways are a joke. Lexus Lanes are nothing new, Illinois and Wisconsin tolls were outsourced to private companies, I don't know if they make a profit or not, jury probably still out, which is why you don't see a lot of private companies wanting to take on tolls as a profit center. Can't wait for the ENRON toll lanes, that will be the day.

I don't believe that spending Billions on HSR is what California Should be doing when it cannot pay its employees, this is my point.

[carpnter]

Who is responsible for writing the budget in California?  Doesn't the Governor propose a budget to the Assembly and then the State Assembly writes and passes one for the governor's signature/veto (which may or may not be anything like the one he proposed)?  If that is the case there is plenty of blame to go around on California's current economic situation.

[mtraininjax]

The problems California has go all the way back to Ronald Reagan exempting property taxes.  The state has teetered on bankruptcy ever since then.  Great model eh, mtrain?

The facts as you call it are that California is spending money that it should otherwise be contributing to the people it employs. You can hide your comments any way you want around any banter, the fact remains that California is in a 16 Billion dollar hole now, and getting ready to slash teachers, school year and public services, yet you jump up and down and continue to cheer on HSR.

Something is wrong with these priorities, perhaps you should have never left California, do you think the voting public in Cali feel the same way? Ask the teachers and people with pensions and cities that have fallen into BK, I think they would give you an earful, regardless of the model, who was at the helm of the Exxon Valdez, the issue here is do not spend what you otherwise need now for your citizens. Or do, and pass the buck forward to the next budget year and then try and fix the spending/consumption issues then.