President Obama backs Ocklawaha & Metrojacksonville's Stance on High Speed Rail

[Ocklawaha]

The President is calling for an immediate rollout of a national high speed rail system.

Well, there is Social Security, Medicare, Healthcare, and now rail care?

High Speed rail will have to wait its turn in Congress. Amtrak just got a billion dollars, and it will last them 1 year, before they squander it as well. At least with the airlines, they paid back the money they were loaned after 9/11, Amtrak is that giant sucking noise you hear out of Congress.

Amtrak would be better off selling the routes that are not profitable and letting private market forces compete for that business. Amtrak makes good money on the NE Corridor route, let it focus on what it does best, sell the rest.

Where are all the pundits who care about SPEND, SPEND, SPEND here? Anyone care that their kids, kids, kids, kids, kids won't have a penny to their names with all this spending, or are we living in Fantasyland?

ROFLMAO! You have such a twisted logic in your sense of humor that it's golden, you really ought to go on the air after Rush. How funny.

I'm not a fan of the HSR plans either, frankly you and I both saw what decent rail passenger service once was, and no postal service imitation is going to impress us.

The line about the airlines having paid back all their money and Amtrak hasn't is classic. We both know that it DOES cost us $30 dollars (in federal subsidy) for every Amtrak Ticket sold. We both know that we had to bail out a number of big air carriers who thought they go the route of the Rock Island or Milwaukee Road. But we also know that neither the Rock Island, or Milwaukee Road was important to this nation to keep em rolling.

To someone sitting on the side lines, it looks like $30 dollars a pop for train tickets seems pretty steep, but what Mtrain or myself are NOT telling you is that it cost us $40 - $600 dollars for every airline passenger that buys a ticket. This is an indirect subsidy so it NEVER has to be paid back!


The thought that Obama might level the field, scares the highway and airline guys to death.

OCKLAWAHA

[thelakelander]

The thought that Obama might level the field, scares the highway and airline guys to death.

That's obvious.  However, its a refreshing breath of air to me.