Rob Ellett
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Armstrong,IL
Posts: 3348 |
Some Tailgate BS'ing - Play nice
I hope some will read this and respond as this off subject but is something I feel more worthy of "tailgate BS" than whether or not President Obama should have or have not been awarded the Noble Peace Prize.
Maybe an intelligent conversation on this subject can lead to some fresh ideas and a possible ground swell to encourage-no force our elected officials to act.
Have at it and lets see if we can keep this thread from neverland of deletion.
Anyone watch the History Channels series " The Crumbling of America" ? If so I'm sure you were as shocked and angry as I was. We have put ourselves on a path of certain collapse of which we may not be able to pull our Nation out of.
During the beginning of this recession and the stimulus recovery action you heard allot of talk about "infrastructure stimulus"
besides some repaving and sidewalk replacement I haven't seen much " infrastructure repair". Were is all this badly needed infrastructure work being done?
Our infrastructure has came to the end of its design life and needs to be REPLACED not repaired, Our Nations safety,Our Nations commerce is in an unimaginable danger, we are on the verge of becoming a "third world country".
With the amount of infrastructure work needing to be replaced and upgraded we could put back to work every person currently unemployed and the some. We have ahead of us what I believe to be our Nations biggest challenge and opportunity, the rebirth of America to its glory as the bright shinning light in the night, the land of opportunity, instead of our current path of dread and despair.
We have allowed China to become the work shop of the world and they have filled their coffers with money and now are ready to go the next step and become the owner employers of the world, were do you see the United States in this?
The following is from a recent CNN article.
"America has 457 miles of high-speed track from Boston to Washington, D.C. In Japan, by comparison, trains netting speeds up to 188 miles-per-hour cross 1,360 miles of track; France features 1,180 miles of rail to support trains that can travel up to 199 miles-per-hour. China aspires to dart even farther ahead with its $300 billion-16,000 mile high-speed rail project."
" Last month, 40 states -- both individually and in groups -- submitted 278 pre-applications for various stimulus-funded high-speed passenger rail projects, amounting to $102.5 billion in requests. Final applications are due August 24, and the FRA will begin distributing funds in September.
Though it has until September 2012 to obligate all monies, Flatau expects "ready-to-go" projects, such as system upgrades that will help existing trains travel faster, to be among the first to receive funds because they are most likely to deliver the government the "biggest bang for the buck" -- advancing both the high-speed rail system and America's recovery efforts through job creation.
In addition to the Boston-to-Washington Northeast Corridor, the federal government has targeted ten regions for high-speed rail development since the early 1990s. These include a California Corridor spanning from Sacramento to San Diego and, as of July 2, linking Los Angeles to Las Vegas; a Chicago Hub Network spreading in all directions from the Windy City to the greater Midwest; and a South Central Corridor that forks from Texas into both Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Though the corridor outlines have guided the planning process, Flatau says they do not necessarily represent the final plans for the nation's high-speed rail network. "Nothing has been predetermined," he says, citing environmental considerations and land rights as potential hurdles.
In July, Congress gave high-speed rail an additional boost when the House of Representatives set aside $4 billion of its $68.8 billion fiscal 2010 transportation and housing appropriations bill to aid the high-speed passenger rail program, which awaits Senate approval. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood may still choose to devote $2 billion of this money to the proposed national infrastructure bank, which will make loans for future transportation projects if Congress approves its creation next year. Regardless, $2 billion for high-speed rail amounts to twice the $1 billion President Obama initially suggested the federal government would spend on the program each year."
If anyone has managed to make it this far what are your thoughts.
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10-09-2009 06:29 PM
