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-   -   High Speed Rail not replacing jets ... . (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/hangar-talk/56401-high-speed-rail-not-replacing-jets.html)

Short Bus Drive 01-26-2011 12:31 PM


Originally Posted by Bucking Bar (Post 936252)
Dead head's right. Liberal government big wigs don't think it is worth the carbon emissions for us commoners to move about the Earth. But, when Biden wants to go somewhere, gas up the jet(s).

Believe it or not, when Biden has to "commute to work", he takes Amtrak from Wilmington, DE to D.C.! Mrs. Biden too!

DYNASTY HVY 01-26-2011 04:50 PM

Put the risk on the investors.
 
High speed rail schould be funded by private money and private money alone and not taxpayer money .




Ally

satchip 01-26-2011 06:01 PM


Originally Posted by saxman66 (Post 936331)
If you're referring to private automobile, than that is far from any type of privately funded mode of transportation. In fact its probably the opposite, when you consider that the last several years we've had to bail out the Highway Trust Fund with several billion dollars each year. In fact $63 billion over the last two years and that came from your income tax, not your gas tax.

Plus how exactly is giving more transportation choices stopping people from moving freely about the country? Is having more public transit options such as rail, buses, flying, driving, make us less mobile? I should think not.

The problem with the Highway Trust fund as with any government trust fund is it's just a name. The tax dollars that go into them are not really there, they are in the general fund. Money is fungible.

When I say private I mean transportation that the individual decides where and when it goes. Public transportation in the left's eyes is not more choice, it's there to replace individual choice. If the government owns the means of transportation they can decide where you can go and when. When they don't own the means of transport as in air travel today, they exert control in who goes and how much of a hassle it is through "security". Government in general and the left in particular is never about "choice" or "freedom".

The great personal transportation system in the USA is a manifestation of our freedom as set forth in the US Constitution. Population density and shorter distances do not fully explain why the rest of the world emphasize mass public transit.

atpwannabe 01-27-2011 08:11 AM


Originally Posted by Grumble (Post 935898)
Europe is broke for a reason, lets stop trying to chase them down the hole.


Which leads me to the question: "Why is that on some shows that are introducing a new product and/or innovative service, or marketing of some "exotic" destination, the person that they interviewing always seems to have a British accent"?

Nothing against the Brits....but I ask, "What's up with that"? Is there some sort of significance of having a Brit offer a subjective view about a product or service that makes them experts about that service or product?

As far as HSR, maybe more beneficial if it's scaled back to connecting major cities in the US. I'll let the experts figure it out though.


atp

LeftWing 01-27-2011 02:59 PM


Originally Posted by DYNASTY HVY (Post 936656)
High speed rail schould be funded by private money and private money alone and not taxpayer money .




Ally

Why? That would put high speed rail at a disadvantage. All other modes of transportation relies on government funding.....including ours.

FlyJSH 01-27-2011 03:52 PM

The feds only need to do two things to make HSR succeed:

add a $5 tax to gasoline and charge ATC user fees. ;)

Zapata 01-27-2011 07:13 PM

HSR is inevitable. Frankly, HSR should indeed replace flying between, i.e., New York and Philly.

FDXLAG 01-27-2011 07:44 PM


Originally Posted by Zapata (Post 937465)
HSR is inevitable. Frankly, HSR should indeed replace flying between, i.e., New York and Philly.


Sounds like some great pilot investment advice. What is the stock symbol for HSR I have a 100K I need to turn into 50K. Werent you the guy that turned me on to Al Gore's Carbon Trading?

Zapata 01-27-2011 09:18 PM


Originally Posted by FDXLAG (Post 937488)
Sounds like some great pilot investment advice. What is the stock symbol for HSR I have a 100K I need to turn into 50K. Werent you the guy that turned me on to Al Gore's Carbon Trading?

Some people look beyond their nose, some do not.

DeadHead 01-28-2011 01:30 AM


Originally Posted by LeftWing (Post 937276)
Why? That would put high speed rail at a disadvantage. All other modes of transportation relies on government funding.....including ours.

The airlines are funded by private money, so doesn't that put the airlines at a disadvantage??
By your metric, everything in this country is somehow dependent on government funding.

The airline industry has a gluttony of government taxes and fees attached to every ticket price.

High speed rail is only to a disadvantage to itself. High speed rail is just another way for our government to take more and more control of our taxpayer dollars.
AMTRAK, or National Railroad Passenger Corporation, is government-owned, so all the federal government did was just tip the competitive scale in their favor.
I guess antitrust issues only exist when an airline attempts to be adaptive in the market place.

High speed rail may work in other foreign countries, but their social population demographics are localized and less spread out than ours in the US. The market place has spoken, and the preferential method of travel is by air in the US.


Using taxpayer dollars to finance an industry that has been losing money hand over fist for the last 10 years is just another prime example of waste, pure and simple.
I guess the same could be said about losses sustained in the Airline Sector over the last 10 years, but the difference is that Airlines are not government-owned.

If government-run corporations had to abide by the same competitive rules, ethics, and basic operating practices of the rest of the marketplace, then they would have been put out of business a long time ago.


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