In an Unequal America, Getting to Work Can Be Hell...

[Polishprince]

Thanks. I'll try to remember that in case it's one of the questions next time I'm on Jeapardy.

The term disappeared from German use after WWII.

The German people became ashamed of the word because it represented so many terrible things.

To this day, they stil ldonlt use the term.

But the Umnited States has taken to popularizing it. Even creating a federal police force called Department of Homeland Security.

I suspect that history will eventually repeat itself and the generations of tomorrow will look back and recall the tyranny it ushered and welcomed into this once great nation.

I don't think the term "homeland" is what motivated Germany to establish their national socialist ideology of socialized medicine, genocide and gun control.

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

THAT isn't "America". THAT is "a very, very small portion of America that most Americans never go near." Sorry, Sparkles. Talk to me about something that matters to people across the country.

What isn't 'America' ? You lost me.
Trump said "you go to China and Japan then come back here - it's like a third world country" and he's right.

THAT isn't "America". THAT is "a very, very small portion of America that most Americans never go near." Sorry, Sparkles. Talk to me about something that matters to people across the country.

What isn't 'America' ? You lost me.
Trump said "you go to China and Japan then come back here - it's like a third world country" and he's right.

If you can't remember what the conversation is about for longer than 2 minutes at a time, say so now so you can be ignored.

We're talking about how federal tax dollars "need" to be spent on a high-speed train between Boston and DC because some crybabies have a tough commute.

Next time, refer back to the beginning of the thread, because I won't keep refreshing your memory for you.

They already have a high speed train between DC and NY, call the Acela, that was supposed to be the end all, except that the tracks intersect crossroads, so the train has to slow down, because some liberal idiot might pull in front of it. Fucking liberals always seem to fuck things up...

 

[Natural Citizen]

I don't think the term "homeland" is what motivated Germany to establish their national socialist ideology of socialized medicine, genocide and gun control.

No, it's not. But it is the propaganda they used in order to justify their actions to their people and to indoctrinate them with the idea of German exceptionalism.

It sounds very similar to another country these days, doesn't it?

 

[Cecilie1200]

I actually have a big problem "giving a blank check" to the Pentagon. I'm all for accountability in government spending.

That being said, these whinging bitches can have MY tax money to build THEIR high speed rail for THEIR commute just as soon as they can explain what possible benefit I, a resident of Arizona, get from a frigging train in "the Boston to DC corridor".

If you're in Arizona you should be more worried about where your water's gonna come from in 10 or 20 years when Lake Mead dries up.

Crazy Cali gonna run out of water much sooner

All the more reason why I don't need to be sending my tax dollars to the Northeast to buy them shiny new trains, huh?

When I said federal , I was referring to a coast to coast - type of project, which would involve financial arrangements within each state the rails run in and so on.

Dude, it was YOUR post. Why don't you know what you linked?

Okay, let me spell this out simply for you.

Train commutes in the Northeast are not my problem, and I'm not interested in paying to fix them. Likewise, traffic congestion and crazy drivers in Phoenix are not THEIR problem, and they shouldn't have to contribute to fixing them. NEITHER problem is really the concern of the federal government, because they're strictly local and the fixes, whatever they may be, need to be local as well.

 

[Cecilie1200]

View attachment 242885

All the more reason why I don't need to be sending my tax dollars to the Northeast to buy them shiny new trains, huh?

You guys need desalination plants on the Gulf of California coast, which is only about 150 miles from Phoenix.

Pretty sure what I need most at the moment is for people who don't live here to stop bothering me with their "wisdom" about what we need.

What you need is to check a map, so that you can see that, however close it might be to Phoenix in miles, the Gulf of California is IN ANOTHER COUNTRY.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

A nice shiney new train is just a clean place for the homeless to shit up.

 

[the other mike]

I agree with the OP.

I have lived in the UK, and Germany and visited France, Austria and the Netherlands. You can go anywhere in Europe fairly cheaply via bus, train, then bus again and it is fast too. Got from London to Southampton in like 90 minutes over 71 miles on their high speed rail during rush hour no less.

We used to have similar public transportation () but nearly as fast) with trolley cars, trains then another trolley car, but the Auto industry corporations basically bribed all the municipal city council leaders to tear out the trolley tracks and make the urban roads safer for cars.

Huge mistake in my opinion.

Now we are literally tied to gasoline for all our travel needs,

Thank you. Someone else is showing some common sense here instead of rambling out their right wing talking points.
A small percentage of our bloated defense budget would pay for a high speed rail system, without creating
enemies 6000 miles away even.

 

[the other mike]

"Let them hitchhike to work, those worthless fucking pet hamsters."
"Drive a pickup like me."
"Give them a shiny train to shit on ? Why ?"
"...stop bothering me with their "wisdom"..."

 

[Polishprince]

A nice shiney new train is just a clean place for the homeless to shit up.

In some places,passenger trains are worthwhile however. But its just not most places in America. When will high speed trains ever be brought to smaller cities like Hermitage PA, much less small town America? They'll never be brought to even medium sized metropolises like Youngstown or Canton or Erie.

This is , IMHO, just a scam for the great American heartland to subsidize the big liberal cities on the coast by pretending this is for everyone.

Why don't they just raise taxes in New York and Washington DC and Los Angeles if they want this for themselves?

 

[the other mike]

A nice shiney new train is just a clean place for the homeless to shit up.

In some places,passenger trains are worthwhile however. But its just not most places in America. When will high speed trains ever be brought to smaller cities like Hermitage PA, much less small town America? They'll never be brought to even medium sized metropolises like Youngstown or Canton or Erie.

This is , IMHO, just a scam for the great American heartland to subsidize the big liberal cities on the coast by pretending this is for everyone.

Why don't they just raise taxes in New York and Washington DC and Los Angeles if they want this for themselves?

The way it's looking, the wealthier states will jump in soon Texas, Tennessee, California, maybe Florida ...Atlanta to Jacksonville/ Orlando would be a good one.
Houston to Dallas to San Antonio maybe.

 

[westwall]

Like guns...Americans don't give up their cars.

Nor should they. You progressive morons are all about self sacrifice but the progressives pushing this bullshit fly all over the fucking place. Their "carbon footprints" are orders of magnitude greater than us peons, but they're "special". Piss on them.

 

[westwall]

I'll stick to my truck for whenever I have to visit a job site, last thing I need in my life is a train full of public zombies. I'd end up choking the ever living sht out of the first one who started popping their mouth off.

You know how they do...

She's a loon.

 

[Carl in Michigan]

They don’t know each other; they live 60 miles apart; and, at least on the surface, Carrie Blough and Karen Allen don’t have much in common. But ask them about their journeys to and from their jobs every day, and their stories converge in a shared narrative of commuter hell.

In an Unequal America, Getting to Work Can Be Hell

Some of us have been saying it for decades that we need to build new high-speed rail lines in the United States, especially in the Boston to DC corridor, but the argument has always been that it's too expensive for the government to invest in and would not be a profitable venture for private companies. But these same people never seem to have a problem signing blank checks for a Pentagon budget that's over a trillion dollars a year now when you combine the military and the entire national security/ intelligence system that's in place. Why is that ?
View attachment 242860

Dems say we don't have 5 billion for national security, so NO TOYS FOR YOU!

 

[the other mike]

Nor should they. You progressive morons are all about self sacrifice but the progressives pushing this bullshit fly all over the fucking place. Their "carbon footprints" are orders of magnitude greater than us peons, but they're "special". Piss on them.

Whatever you say there Huckleberry.

 

[the other mike]

Dems say we don't have 5 billion for national security, so NO TOYS FOR YOU!

Who's a democrat ?

 

[JimBowie1958]

This little critter might make the whole debate moot anyway.

 

[Polishprince]

A nice shiney new train is just a clean place for the homeless to shit up.

In some places,passenger trains are worthwhile however. But its just not most places in America. When will high speed trains ever be brought to smaller cities like Hermitage PA, much less small town America? They'll never be brought to even medium sized metropolises like Youngstown or Canton or Erie.

This is , IMHO, just a scam for the great American heartland to subsidize the big liberal cities on the coast by pretending this is for everyone.

Why don't they just raise taxes in New York and Washington DC and Los Angeles if they want this for themselves?

The way it's looking, the wealthier states will jump in soon Texas, Tennessee, California, maybe Florida ...Atlanta to Jacksonville/ Orlando would be a good one.
Houston to Dallas to San Antonio maybe.

How many interurban bus trips and commuter flights are already running between Atlanta and Jacksonville and Orlando? How about Houston, Dallas and San Antonio?

Is there really enough?

Further, these are all supercities too, maybe not on the size level of New York, and most Americans live in smaller metropolises.

It would be a thousand years before any high speed trains came to Hermitage PA IMHO.

 

[the other mike]

In a related topic, I'd love to do this sometime for the scenic views
on the Pacific Coast..

 

[EvilCat Breath]

Forget trains. Build the hyperloop.

 

[airplanemechanic]

The title of the article is misleading. Nobody is complaining about not being able to get to work.

They don’t know each other; they live 60 miles apart; and, at least on the surface, Carrie Blough and Karen Allen don’t have much in common. But ask them about their journeys to and from their jobs every day, and their stories converge in a shared narrative of commuter hell.

In an Unequal America, Getting to Work Can Be Hell

Some of us have been saying it for decades that we need to build new high-speed rail lines in the United States, especially in the Boston to DC corridor, but the argument has always been that it's too expensive for the government to invest in and would not be a profitable venture for private companies. But these same people never seem to have a problem signing blank checks for a Pentagon budget that's over a trillion dollars a year now when you combine the military and the entire national security/ intelligence system that's in place. Why is that ?
View attachment 242860

And NONE of those countries are as spread out as we are. And Russia only has high speed rail covering less than 1/4th of the country. This has been discussed ad nausum. Europe is very densely populated and so rail is a good way to get around. People also USE public transportation. America is not good for PT and nobody uses it.

At a cost of 140 million per mile, it's not going to happen.

How Much Would High Speed Rail Actually Cost?

Also, Americans don't like public transportation if we can help it. We want to take our own cars where we want to go.

Different countries, different people. Most people in Europe don't even own a car. Americans own 2. We will never have high speed rail in this country because we can't even find funds for a wall to stop illegal lawbreakers from entering our country. We would never spend the money on a high speed rail that 6 people per day would ride. Public transit is subsidized by tax dollars. If nobody is riding them, nobody is going to vote to spend their money on them.

The real reason American public transportation is such a disaster

Why Is American Mass Transit So Bad? It's a Long Story. - CityLab