"The Republican governors in Wisconsin and Ohio have pledged to return a total of more than $1.5 billion in federal money by canceling the train projects in their states." This from the November 15, 2010, "Time" magazine, page 23.
Such sentiments are almost beyond belief. Assuming these newly elected governors are not inherently evil, they must be pathetically ignorant. These actions would not only hurt their own states, but the nation as a whole. They appear to be blindly following the right wing ideological script that serves only the wealthiest and the multinational corporations (Koch brothers and oil).
With unemployment in Ohio of 9.6% and Wisconsin of 7.0% (Sept. BLS) they need all the stimulus they can get. Both are industrial states with labor skills that could be employed building these high speed trains. Creating jobs grows the economy and increases tax revenue. Every dollar of stimulus generates more than one dollar of economic activity-known as the multiplier. That is why stimulus works. It creates demand which multiplies and evenually generates enough tax revenue to pay for itself. Conversely, reductions of spending slow the economy and reduce tax revenue and in turn drive more reductions in spending in a declining spiral of depression.
With our nation a hostage of its energy dependence, the need for electric powered high speed trains to get people out of cars and airplanes is glaringly obvious. Anyone who does not agree must have never traveled abroad or read any of the mainstream news media. They must not understand the impact on our economy from importing 382,564,000 barrels of oil at $80 per barrel for $30 billion in a month (August 2010).
With our nation a hostage of its energy dependence, the need for electric powered high speed trains to get people out of cars and airplanes is glaringly obvious. Anyone who does not agree must have never traveled abroad or read any of the mainstream news media. They must not understand the impact on our economy from importing 382,564,000 barrels of oil at $80 per barrel for $30 billion in a month (August 2010).
China has now developed and is operating 220 MPH trains and are the world's leader in that technology. They are thinking ahead and we are not. When I was young, Kennedy was empowering us to go to the moon,. We did. If he were here now, we would likely be tooling up to build 250 MPH trains and export them to the world. Now, we are sitting here with our collective heads in the sand being oblivious to the lost opportunities.
This brings to mind what President Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address " . . testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure." Will our democratic experiment that is now only 224 years old endure? Will the voting public see through all the right wing media blather, grasp the truth about what needs to be done, and exercise their power at the polls to make it happen?
James Madison said "The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of liberty."
Thomas Jefferson wrote to George Logan, Nov. 12, 1816: "I hope we shall . . crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and to bid defiance to the laws of their country."
We won't recapture the glory of the U.S. by regressing but only by a rebirth of the progressive spirit we had under FDR and JFK. We looked to Obama to lead this rebirth but so far he was not forceful enough to make it happen. His motivational communication skills we saw on the campaign trail did not follow him into the White House. Lets hope he can change during the next two years.
