New GOP Governors Kill $1.2 Billion In High-Speed Rail Jobs

are you kidding me? because of conservatives we cant have high speed rail? wtf!

I guess Americans dont deserve high speed rail?

why do conservatives want America to be the dumb kid in class?

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Rather than acknowledge the number of jobs created or kept afloat by Democratic policies like the Recovery Act, Republicans insist that Democrats have done nothing to help create private-sector jobs. Future House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has said, “Washington has kept the private sector in bust while manufacturing a boom for the public sector.”

Boehner’s bosom-buddy Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) beat a similar drum on the campaign trail. Touting his plan to help the private-sector “quickly help create jobs,” Kasich insisted he would help “improve the atmosphere in our state for real business development” by meeting “the needs of businesses to overcome” governmental “snafus.” But Kasich undermined his rhetoric by killing Ohio’s high-speed rail project. In doing so, he derailed many businesses’ economic development plans and effectively killed the private-sector jobs he promised to create, leaving one businessman to call his decision “unbelievable,” “mind-boggling,” and “naive”:

Locally, certain not to happen is construction of a $15 million facility planned for Columbus by US Railcar Co. The plant would have employed up to 200 when fully staffed, said Mike Pracht, president and chief executive officer of the Columbus-based railroad-car manufacturer.

“It’s unbelievable these states would send back $400 million and $800 million in free money,” Pracht said. “It’s mind-boggling.”

“The only thing I can compare it to is the interstate-highway program back in the ’60s. Where would Ohio be today if it opted out of the interstate highway system? To suggest passenger rail would be any different is naive.”

Pracht said that in addition to the jobs his company would have added, abandoning the rail plan negates millions of dollars in potential development that would have clustered around each rail station along the 258-mile route.

Pracht’s anger is legitimate. The Cleveland developer Forest City Enterprises was planning projects that would create $180 million of taxable property. Dayton, OH anticipated around $250 million worth of downtown development around the rail station and, in Columbus, OH, the rail line “was expected to spur business development” and “provide a link between Downtown and Port Columbus.” But, as Forest City’s spokesman put it, “Clearly, it won’t happen now. It’s a governmental decision.” A decision that has already cost Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) private-sector jobs as well.

But Kasich is “unrelenting” in his mission to overtly rebuke his campaign promises. While acknowledging that the train would create private-sector jobs, Kasich’s spokesman Rob Nichols scoffed Kasich wasn’t going to build a train that “will cost taxpayers.” A curious excuse given the fact that Kasich is perfectly willing to spend taxpayer money to “pay for security improvements” at his own private residence. Because Kasich is choosing to be “the first Ohio governor in a generation” to live in his private residence rather than in the already secured governor’s mansion, Ohioans will now pay for “around-the clock security at the Kasich home” as well as at the official residence.

Decisions like these help to explain the seven point drop in his approval rating before he’s even taken office. But rather than rethink high-speed rail and his other poor economic policies, Kasich is committed to driving the state into further economic disaster. As Nichols said, “We had the debate. The train is dead. The matter is closed.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/01/03/ohio-kasich-jobs/

 

Money doesn't grow on trees. That train is dead.

 

Money doesnt grow on trees....... Then why did they just give the richest two percent a 700 billion dollar tax break?

it was 400 million that ohio sent back. The recent tax cuts for teh top 2 percent will cost a couple trillion over the next decade........... are you kidding me>?


Why did they flush over two trillion down the toilet in Iraq?

But when it comes to doing somethign good for America that would improve lives and create jobs they want none of it........

The bush tax cuts for the rich are the BIGGEST contributor to the debt over the next decade btw..........

but now they all the sudden care about the deficit....... now all the sudden retirement age has to be raised?

Give me a break

only an idgit would fall for that

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Rather than acknowledge the number of jobs created or kept afloat by Democratic policies like the Recovery Act, Republicans insist that Democrats have done nothing to help create private-sector jobs. Future House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has said, “Washington has kept the private sector in bust while manufacturing a boom for the public sector.”

Boehner’s bosom-buddy Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) beat a similar drum on the campaign trail. Touting his plan to help the private-sector “quickly help create jobs,” Kasich insisted he would help “improve the atmosphere in our state for real business development” by meeting “the needs of businesses to overcome” governmental “snafus.” But Kasich undermined his rhetoric by killing Ohio’s high-speed rail project. In doing so, he derailed many businesses’ economic development plans and effectively killed the private-sector jobs he promised to create, leaving one businessman to call his decision “unbelievable,” “mind-boggling,” and “naive”:

Locally, certain not to happen is construction of a $15 million facility planned for Columbus by US Railcar Co. The plant would have employed up to 200 when fully staffed, said Mike Pracht, president and chief executive officer of the Columbus-based railroad-car manufacturer.

“It’s unbelievable these states would send back $400 million and $800 million in free money,” Pracht said. “It’s mind-boggling.”

“The only thing I can compare it to is the interstate-highway program back in the ’60s. Where would Ohio be today if it opted out of the interstate highway system? To suggest passenger rail would be any different is naive.”

Pracht said that in addition to the jobs his company would have added, abandoning the rail plan negates millions of dollars in potential development that would have clustered around each rail station along the 258-mile route.

Pracht’s anger is legitimate. The Cleveland developer Forest City Enterprises was planning projects that would create $180 million of taxable property. Dayton, OH anticipated around $250 million worth of downtown development around the rail station and, in Columbus, OH, the rail line “was expected to spur business development” and “provide a link between Downtown and Port Columbus.” But, as Forest City’s spokesman put it, “Clearly, it won’t happen now. It’s a governmental decision.” A decision that has already cost Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) private-sector jobs as well.

But Kasich is “unrelenting” in his mission to overtly rebuke his campaign promises. While acknowledging that the train would create private-sector jobs, Kasich’s spokesman Rob Nichols scoffed Kasich wasn’t going to build a train that “will cost taxpayers.” A curious excuse given the fact that Kasich is perfectly willing to spend taxpayer money to “pay for security improvements” at his own private residence. Because Kasich is choosing to be “the first Ohio governor in a generation” to live in his private residence rather than in the already secured governor’s mansion, Ohioans will now pay for “around-the clock security at the Kasich home” as well as at the official residence.

Decisions like these help to explain the seven point drop in his approval rating before he’s even taken office. But rather than rethink high-speed rail and his other poor economic policies, Kasich is committed to driving the state into further economic disaster. As Nichols said, “We had the debate. The train is dead. The matter is closed.”

 

You have to invest in infrastructure if you want a good country.

this is common sense.

You have to have infrastructure to allow for growth and investment.....

conservatives seem to think roads heal themselves

 

The bottom line is this, Bobby: High speed rail is a luxury. Food stamps and safe infrastructure are a necessity. It's not as if we're in a deficit of passenger trains and there isn't that much wrong with the railways we have now in terms of safety, so I don't see any very compelling interest in going from A to B in 35 minutes less time.

Heck, they can take that 1.2 Billion dollars and throw it toward improving the education apparatus -- and an educated and less debt-trodden population is really what makes a nation grow. Or better yet, put it into hospitals and grants for students. Ain't nobody trying to invest in riding no high speed train when they can't even afford the ticket. You know how much a ticket for Acela costs? Sheeeit. That train is dead, baby.

 

Only in that it's not wholly needed. It's not terribly costly compared to a lot of things the US is doing (War comes to mind.) It'd still be a good way to alleviate the price of any freight that might get on the train. I'd personally put the money into upgrading the telecomm infrastructure myself though.

Food stamps? Eh. Cure the problem, not the symptom. Safe infrastructure? What's not safe about trains? When's the last time the Tokyo bullet train derailed? Once in 46 years of operation as a very high-traffic high speed network.

There's a very compelling reason - so as to not be touched up by the TSA.

Fair enough.

 

THIS



Its not 400 million of free money, its MY GODDAMN MONEY. Its OUR money. Every god damn cent of it. I am so sick of hearing about the poor not being able to help themselves... hard work can get anyone into a comfortable lifestyle. This is the great thing about america. And yes it is good the rich are not taxed more. Why? Because they earned that money. It is theirs. It is not right that you want to take it from them and give it to other people that have not earned it. Period.

 

.....

 

Are you serious? A lot of the money earned by rich people was earned through the exploitation and manipulation of the less fortunate. A lot of rich people (not all, obviously) are that rich because they are bad people. A person making 15 million dollars a year is not going to have their lifestyle hindered by only making 14 million, or even 10 million. Also, your claim that anybody can have a comfortable lifestyle with enough hard work is just more inaccurate mouth dribble from the right wing, and I personally find it offensive that you people continually spout off that nonsense. If you actually knew anything about the lifestyles and situations many people are in you'd probably be at a loss for words. Maybe you should spend some time actually trying to understand the world around you rather than listening to conservative news. Actually, seeing all of that probably wouldn't change your opinions at all, because all conservatives really care about is themselves. I imagine it's pretty easy to not care about other people when you probably have no idea what it's like to be in a situation where you don't know when you'll be able to eat next. Maybe you should take some time to think about it while you're eating in your air conditioned house and using the internet. Learn to have some compassion and understanding for your fellow human being.

 

You sound like a sociopath

Mike...... grow up. Stop thinking like a savage. Would you honestly let old ppl who cant take care of themselves starve and die. What about disabled?

And it is NOT YOUR MONEY. Since you are too weak to stop the Government from taking it, it is theirs now. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. But thats how you want it right? survival of the fittest right. Like friggin animals right? Grow UP!

If you dont want to live in a society, If you dont want to be part of a civilization: then dont use the roads, dont use the schools, dotn use the libraries, dont use the supermarkets, phones, internet, etc , dont use anything........ IF YOU DONT WANT TO BE PART OF A SOCIETY THEN GO LIVE IN A CAVE

do you honestly think that if you werent afforded the protections of living in a society with laws and law enforcement you would have anything? you wouldnt? It would have been pillaged along time ago....... by someone alot meaner and tougher and smarter than you.

We live in a society for a reason. Because there is safety in numbers. For mutual benefit. For a safety net. And yes even you Mike, one day may fall on catastrophic hard times. What if you find out you have cancer? and then your insurance limit runs out? Should WE just throw you to the curb, kick you?

Maybe you could do that, but I could not.............. because that is EVIL............. what you are saying is friggin EVIIIIILLLLLLLLLL




Nobody should go hungry so another can be a billionaire.

morals? anything?

You know what a person without empathy and sympathy is Mike? A sociopath

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I just had a vision of Mike with triplets lining them up and putting the bottle across the yard and then saying to himself proudly "the one that gets it first is the only one who deserves to eat"

ick

 

Amen.............. We have a sick virus in this country. This conservative right wing is friggin dangerous.

The ignorance and cold hearted callousness is just appalling........ They are trying to make being an A@#hole fashionable!


something needs to be done about these ppl preaching this nazi-esque hatred of theirs.... Id hate to think what they would do with the poor, maimed, and minorities if they ever got absolute power.......

hopefully karma will get them.

I am ashamed to have to consider them fellow citizens. actually I dont.

I think of them as the old confederate traitors who started a war so they could keep slaves.

its honestly frightening....... they are losing their Humanity

I mean its like they are turning to rabid animals.......

 

Conservatives are either rich, hope to be rich one day, unbelievably ignorant, or some combination of those. If you sit down and have a conversation with an intellectual conservative (they do exist), the final conclusion is that they just don't care about anybody but themselves. These people need to evolve like the rest of us and realize their way of thinking is evil and that the rest of the world wants to move on. I hope I live to see the day that the United States finally starts following the amazing example Europe has been setting for us. Not that Europeans don't have their own problems, but they are certainly going in the right direction.

The main problem with the left wing in this country is that it is like trying to herd cats when it comes to getting something done. The Republicans are much more organized than we are, no contest. If the left wing politicians could just find their nuts we might be able to take back our country from these nut jobs. People blame Obama for not getting enough done, but he can't do much when people keep defecating on anything he tries to get done. People really overestimate how much power presidents actually have.

 

Grow up? I have fallen on harder times than most and so has the majority of my family. I am pretty sure a majority of the mexicans that come into texas have harder times than most as well but the majority work 3 jobs and do what they can to make a better life for their children. I've spoken to more people on medicaid and medicare than you will over your entire life... and instead of lining up triplets my job keeps them from dieing but you are right bob I am a sociopath. Ive seen many aspects of our system and how broken it is. The fact you think that throwing more money at a bad system will fix it makes me think that you really havn't put a lot of thought into this Bob.

 

Actually I believe people can help each other, I also believe people should be empowered to help themselves, not live off of other peoples dime. The fact you are generalizing so much makes me think you really just want someone to be angry at.

 

You said that with enough hard work anybody can have a comfortable life style. That statement implies that poor/homeless people just aren't working hard enough for the things they want. That thought process makes you the same as every other selfish conservative in the world. Sure, there are a handful of good conservatives, but you are not one of them. You think people can help each other? How do you think they should go about doing that? What is appropriate to you? Your earlier post sure as hell did not imply that you feel that way. Maybe you came off the wrong way, but from my point of view you looked pretty selfish in your earlier post. Feel free to enlighten me.

 

I am not back peddling, this is the same thing I have said for years in this forum. The vast maority can work hard to get where they want to be. Many of the homeless have serious mental illnesses and need proper mental healthcare before they go into the workforce. I do appreciate you call me a bad person though, that's pretty great. :hug:

 

Please read your own post, and then read it again. Carefully examine the underlined part as well. What you just said completely contradicts the message conveyed in this post. Though, I still disagree with your belief that the vast majority can get what they want with hard work. If you are among the people that have the opportunity to live comfortably with hard work, you should consider yourself privileged. You should wake up every morning thankful that you were born into the right family and in the right country.


EDIT: I don't actually think you are a bad person. I think you're selfish, and I'm disappointed in any semi-intelligent person that shares some of the views you have. These issues are extremely important to me. I can be a little more aggressive than I intend to be.

 

Ive known quite a few that have gotten off of the streets with hard work. Obviously I was not being literal by everybody. A person with no limbs is not going to get where they want with hard work... oh wait http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8ZuKF3dxCY.

Also yes, I do thank God everyday for the opportunities I have been given, but without hard work I would not be where I am. Nor would my mother who has more injurys than the average person who would be on disibility but with hard work has been blessed to be able to continue to work at age sixty. Nor would one of my employees who is bipolar but with hard work and therapy continues to come into work everyday dispite being in tears or manic. Or one of my other employees who was molested and physically abused his entire childhood by his drunk parents who came close to killing him. Nor my sister who had to move out at sixteen to get away from my sociopath father. Nor one of my friends who needs to have her spleen removed, most likely has a rare blood cancer and has been through more at 25 than most will in their entire lifetime and still manages to be at work everyday. Nor one of my other employees whose house burned down on christmas and is living in a hotel but still manages to make it to work, and because of PRIVATE donations given out of compassion by coworkers and friends is going to be able to rebuild.

But you are right, most people should feel sorry for themselves and bitch and moan about the couple million people that are very well off not being taxed enough(despite the fact they are probably paying close to 50% in taxes).

 

That's fine, this is a web forum, I don't take it personal.

 

I've known quite a few people that survived cancer. Obviously they should all be able to do it, right? That is pretty much how your post comes off to me. I'm very happy for people that have the luck and resources to better themselves. However, a lot of people are not lucky. You can't take a handful of people that turned themselves around and use them as an example to say anybody can do it, because that is nonsense. Conservatives seem to be under the impression that the left wing wants to baby everybody and let people live comfortably without any effort, which is false. The left wing wants as many people as possible to have the opportunities that people like you and I were fortunate enough to have.


EDIT: By the way, Jesus Christ would have been a socialist, not a conservative.