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Investigate investment in railways

I suggest conducting a cost benifit analysis of significantly investing in railway improvment.  It is possible in most of europe, Germany in particular, to take a train to pretty much anywhere you would want to go in a timely manner.  Even to small towns.  It creates an enviornment where personal cars are truely optional for most of the population.  Many of the trains are run with electricity.  I concede there may be geographic, financial, or other bariers that would make such an extensive system in the United States unfeasable but the benefits to productivity, the enviornment, national security (hard to drive a train into a building), and population congestion seem large.  We should make sure we aren't overlooking a good opportunity.
6 Comments  »  Posted by Kevin J. Kauth to Economy, Energy and Environment, Homeland Security, Service, Technology, Additional Issues on 1/12/2009 5:52 PM

Comments
 
bornintheusa
1/12/2009 5:55 PM

Your program will not work. It ignores the elephant in the room, the Federal Reserve. Also, feeding One Trillion Dollars to a bunch of fat tick construction and remodeling companies is insane! It's nothing more than trickledown job creation. What guarantee do WeThePeople have those new jobs will be created, instead of raises being given to “favored” employees. At least start with One Half Trillion to WeThePeople, and the other half for infrastructure! Unless a radical change is made, Mr. President, beginning with the re-organization of the Federal Reserve, you will become the first American President to preside over the Greatest of All Depressions. I hope this helps.

Further, Mr. President, our economic system is based on two main principals. The first is that consumer spending is two-thirds of the economy. The second is that every dollar spent at retail is spent seven times in a year. The current plan is to send 90% of the money to non-consumers. Any plan that does not target consumers is doomed to failure.

It makes no sense to offer help to fat tick construction companies when consumers are not spending and banks are not lending. Is it too much to ask that the American Family get something directly to help their “crumbling economic structure” when consumers are not spending, and banks are not lending?  You are not FDR despite the Time Magazine Article. Quit listening to FDR experts. We’re at a New Gate!

http://vimeo.com/2783535

 
humbleherman
1/12/2009 6:07 PM
I like the idea of a railway system and the use of electricity rather than a carbon based product,  for people.  I have been working on a plan that would solve most of the problems of getting such a enterprise into reality.    I would favor private enterprise with a government  that would cut "red Tape" to get the job done. 
 
bornintheusa
1/12/2009 6:11 PM

Your program will not work. It ignores the elephant in the room, the Federal Reserve. Also, feeding One Trillion Dollars to a bunch of fat tick construction and remodeling companies is insane! It's nothing more than trickledown job creation. What guarantee do WeThePeople have those new jobs will be created, instead of raises being given to “favored” employees. At least start with One Half Trillion to WeThePeople, and the other half for infrastructure! Unless a radical change is made, Mr. President, beginning with the re-organization of the Federal Reserve, you will become the first American President to preside over the Greatest of All Depressions. I hope this helps.

Further, Mr. President, our economic system is based on two main principals. The first is that consumer spending is two-thirds of the economy. The second is that every dollar spent at retail is spent seven times in a year. The current plan is to send 90% of the money to non-consumers. Any plan that does not target consumers is doomed to failure.

It makes no sense to offer help to fat tick construction companies when consumers are not spending and banks are not lending. Is it too much to ask that the American Family get something directly to help their “crumbling economic structure” when consumers are not spending, and banks are not lending?  You are not FDR despite the Time Magazine Article. Quit listening to FDR experts. We’re at a New Gate!

http://vimeo.com/2783535

 
rody
1/12/2009 6:33 PM
As a daughter of a road engineer who was troubled by our abandonment of the rail, I encourage some research into the the development of high speed rail lines throughtout the northeast to begin with.  Pennsylvania alone has railbeds which can be reactivated to reduce auto travel from State College, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg to Phila., NY, Boston and Washington, DC.  As our population ages, demographics could support altenative travel by the aging to these popular centers.
 
Louis Castaing
1/12/2009 9:48 PM
This idea has been made several times. There should be a way to group similar ideas for voting and comments.
 
 
Fritz
1/13/2009 2:18 AM
There have been plenty of studies that have shown that there is great potential for a greatly expanded passenger and freight rail system in this country. Sure, we can't expect to be running trains every 30 minutes through the desert or great expanses of rural development, but we can certainly justify running at least two trains a day in all the long distance corridors that parallel the interstate highway network and half hour services in corridors that have closely spaced urban areas (e.g. eastern seaboard; Eugene, OR - Vancouver, BC; Midwest High Speed Rail corridor).
We don't need more studies. We need to start building up our rail system, rescuing it from its third world status.
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