Scott Walker’s “victory” on the issue of the high speed rail line between Milwaukee and Madison is really a victory for states like California, Florida, Illinois, and nine other states.
In another “victory” for Wisconsin, Talgo, the Spanish manufacturer of high-speed train cars, will abandon its plant in Milwaukee in 2012, according to Nora Friend, a spokeswoman for the company.
Despite not having been sworn in as governor, Scott Walker has already successfully killed hundreds (if not thousands) of jobs related to high speed rail in Wisconsin, but apparently good paying jobs related to building trains and the infrastructure they need just aren’t the right kind of jobs for Wisconsin.
It’s only a victory for taxpayers if the money doesn’t get spent.
Too bad it will, if I wasn’t clear about that.
Speaking of which though, if anyone is really concerned about reducing the deficit they should cut/reduce defense spending. The cost of building high speed rail is just a drop in the bucket compared with the amount the US government pays Northrup Grumman for it’s new war toys in giant war games.
Can’t say I disagree in the least with you on that. The cuts should be very carefully made so that critical things are still funded as necessary, but there are certainly a ton that are not critical. Even the military leaders have called out projects that aren’t needed/wanted – they just run into Congressional “leaders” who can’t say no to the pork in their districts. I get that losing a project & a bunch of jobs from your district is going to hurt – may even cost you your seat. I don’t expect them to jump up & down, saying “hey, we have to cut the X project built in my state.” But right is right, quit you’re whining & serve your country first, constituents second and when it comes under review and doesn’t have a good ROI for the taxpayers, do the right thing & sit quietly by.
I wouldn’t mind the serving your country part – it’s just we’re over bloated and if we wanted to we could blow up the entire middle east a hundred times with our weaponry which is why obviously they really hate us now. And I wouldn’t blame them, I wouldn’t want any other country being in my home having a war where you could step in the attack zone by mistake when you’re busy just trying to live. I’d be pretty pissed too if say hypothetically China took over the United States and shot up my family who were walking down the street thinking we were part of a militia or something.
If it is serving our country first before anything else, that should be all the more reason to remove the Bush Tax cuts. That way we could actually fund to the weaponry without going into a deficit and by using our own money. After it’s said and done, the United States can cut from the military spending since we have enough weapons anyway to destroy the entire world. Furthermore, if we should just sit back and let them do their job, how come the people who actually put their lives on the line when they get home don’t actually get any treatment by the conservatives who worship them so?
Personally my problem with this country is everyone goes by their gut instinct. Look, everyone in 2006 hated Bush so much, that’s why they tossed Democrats in despite the qualifications they had or not. It was similar with the election in 2010 – everyone was now against the Democrats and went with their gut instinct again and put unqualified idiots into power. This is why I’m in personal belief that all partisan cry babies should just get out of the room and stop voting emotionally. By voting emotionally, you are voting for your own worst enemy that won’t work for you – they’ll only work for themselves. I for one, lean very liberal in social rights but I am frustrated with how people on the left they will not let private businesses speak or demonize them. However, in similarity, I do not appreciate people doing similarly with public work places or unions.
The Tea Party is just an example of how rich men can control the masses and toy with the people’s emotions, however it’s not anything new. Many Democrats have been doing this for years, it’s just it seems like the Tea Party is a more clear example because it’s more open with it’s hatred and rage, of equality, facts, and individual rights.
I don’t always agree with conservatives mind you, but I appreciate people with brains in my government. I won’t always agree with them, but I will always nod in agreement maybe at understanding their angle at where they are coming from. For example, Governor Mitch Daniels from Indiana, Ron Paul from Texas or anywhere else for that matter. The question I have with this, why is that Republicans can’t demand better? Why do they push forward a bunch of half-assed candidates like Scott Walker or Ron Johnson? Mind you, I do think Ron Johnson ran an intelligent campaign and he is a great businessman – I just don’t think he’s suited for the senate at all. And we will see that in the years.
I personally want an America, a Wisconsin with competent leaders and not partisan cry babies who throw in their own agendas while living off the impulses of people who can’t just take the time listen to the other side for just a minute without calling them liberal nutjobs baby killers or facist backwards racists.
So spending money is a defeat for taxpayers?
In the Republicans eyes, yes.
Nothing is going to stop them from spending in other states, so ultimately this was just shooting themselves in the foot and that money is still going to get spent.
So now that this little fiasco is over, let’s work toward getting actual high speed rail…a nice bullet train from Chicago to Minneapolis via Milwaukee would be nice.
Good luck with that. Republicans/conservatives are opposed to any type of transportation that involves anything other than cars on roads.
Yes! And since the blog engine won’t let me just say “Yes!”, let me say it again: Yes!
Related to the loss of Federal rail funds is an article in The Daily Reporter (Monday, January 29, 2010)– The headline on page 1: “Freight line in a pinch with no rail money”.
The Wisconsin & Southern Railroad was expected to receive some funding as part of the Federal funding. Walker’s rejection and eventual transfer of that money to other states means Wisconsin & Southern lost that funding. No problem– William E. Gardner, CEO of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad, plans to ask Scott Walker for state funding of this project. Oh, by the way, this is the same William E. Gardner who got caught reimbursing his employees for illegal political campaign contributions. As a result, Scott Walker’s campaign had to return $43,800 of these illegal contributions.
This is the same William Gardner who is rumored to still be under investigation for his illegal political contributions…