Saturday, April 21, 2012

California' $ train to nowhare .

 Bullet train in China, similar to ones that may be used in proposed California high-speed rail line was built by the Chinese Government a lot cheaper , and faster than the one imagined by Ca . Gov. Jerry Brown.
California has plenty of problems, but a shortage of ways to get between its two largest metropolitan areas is not among them .California is about to embark on its biggest infrastructure project in decades, a project that isn't fully funded, where predictions of profitability are being questioned, and which depends largely on the American taxpayer.. California is broke , and it can't pay for this 'wonder' of modern transportation , the $100 billion bullet train. Two years ago, California voters approved the sale of $10 billion in bonds to fund the rail program. Where is the other $33 billion supposed to come from? The federal government and private partners.The cost of this train out weighs how much California spends on k-12 Education a rough 54-62 billion a year ( which  , And even if the state can find the bucks, should it spend them on building a high-speed rail line, a cool choo-choo? Especially when higher education in California is such a train wreck? ,streamline the costs of this ambitious and economic disaster should the train go forward.  The Big problem is that if this Train jumps , it still will take years for any ground breaking ceremony . No one is going to hire anyone in California , most likely California will outsource , even worse 'Out-shore  the whole job . The example is the Bay Bridge in the Bay  which is made of 99 % Chinese Steal , and sure enough the Train would be built by Chinese manufactured parts. EDUCATION AT RISK. Bullet train versus book learning doesn't have to be an either/or question, nor should it be. But first Sacramento needs to pump a lot more revenue into its treasury.Gov. Jerry Brown has been trying to do that, but so far he hasn't produced. He's proposing a soak-the-rich income tax hike, augmented with a minimal sales tax increase, for the November ballot. But that wouldn't cover any new rail costs.So denouncing bullet train skeptics as "declinists" — the governor's favorite new word — rings hollow when the vault is vacant .With the California Federation of Teachers, the California Nurses Association, the Courage Campaign and civil rights lawyer Molly Munger all mucking up his plans for a ballot measure seeking a temporary tax hike (not to mention some disgruntled unions bitching about where he’s getting funding for his measure), you gotta wonder why Gov. Jerry Brown has also taken on high speed rail as a cause.But he has. He’s even suggested that failure to build an 800-mile high-speed rail (HSR) line up the spine of California would reduce the state to the status of a third-world country. But tipping the scales at over $100 billion, with Republicans in Congress threatening to prevent federal funds from being used for the project at all (although, or maybe because, it’s a favorite of President Obama), and with the state auditor questioning the project’s financial feasibility, HSR looks to critics like a giant (hash) pipe dream..

NOTES & COMMENTS:
 "you can’t figure out how to pay for schools and colleges, road improvements, support for the elderly and disabled — not to mention a hundred other things — should you begin building a railroad no one is sure how to pay for? Especially when several recent reports, including one by the railroad authority’s own peer review group, suggest there’s a huge risk of financial disaster?”
 
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