Quote:
Originally Posted by Willravel
I believe the new bullet train planned here in California will cost about the same as the proposed auto industry bailout. Imagine a bullet train from New York through Boston, Philly, DC, and going all the way to Raleigh.
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People in the US have a odd reaction to public transportation. Like it's some sort of evil that they must resist at all costs. Hell most people won't even car pool. You get outside of the US and nearly everywhere you go public transport is the norm. Gas prices in the US are falling, I thinks thats going to turn out to be a short lived fad. Part of me is happy it's come down. I think it provides some relief for families that are in serious pain do to economic pressures. At the same time I'm hoping they shoot back up and cause people to take a serious look at alternate ways of getting around. The US doesn't seem to do anything until forced. Eventually I think they're going to be forced to find better ways to get from point A to point B. Ways that don't include one person hoping in the family SUV and driving 40-50 miles or more to work each day.
Has to the OP I really have no idea. I think they've screwed themselves into a corner by years of mismanagement and poor planning. How to unscrew them or whether we even should is beyond me. I really have a problem forcing the average tax payer, who apparently makes significantly less per hour, pony up billions of dollars in what very well may be a lost cause. At the same time we're spending (or throwing depending on your point of view) billions of dollars into failing banks and financial institutions.
To me the whole thing (the economy) seems like the very definition of "clusterfuck" and I don't think unfucking ourselves is going to be quick nor easy. I see this as an historic time of change. All change is not bad, nor is it good... nor is it pain free.