http://calpensionsbrief.blogspot.com/2012/08/high-speed-rail-dead-but-still-spending.html
The average legislative testimony
is a real snoozer but I came across the most amazing video of testimony
before a legislative committee by a high speed rail ADVOCATE, Joe
Vranich in 2008. Start to finish his testimony is only about 6 minutes
long (which is amazing in itself) but he pulls absolutely no punches in
saying the HSR analysis and the commission in CA is totally and
completely fouled-up-beyond-all-recognition. Honestly, even if you
don't care one way or another about HSR, it is worth watching just for
it's no-holds-barred fresh energy.
On
a slightly more sedate note, you can see State Senator Joe Simitian
give his reasons for not voting for the HSR bill. Again, he's an
advocate and isn't quite as forceful as Mr. Vranich but he goes into
more detail. If you have any interest in how politics works and what
happened to HSR it is well worth the watch:
FWIW,
I favor HSR in places where it makes economic sense, but California is
very clearly NOT one of those places. People talk of other country's
HSR (like Japan) but in Japan it is very expensive and so is used only
by business and the well-off (and tourists with a rail-pass). It works
fine but it has never made money so you have the absurd situation of 95%
of the country subsidizing a HSR used by the upper 5% of the country.
Even a lot of business travelers don't feel like paying for it and send
their people on buses and regular rail (as I observed when my rail pass
expired). HSR is also a money loser in Spain. I think it makes money
in a very heavily populated part of Germany. Let's not get into China where economic data are filed under "Fantasy and Science Fiction"
- Michael Goldman
No comments:
Post a Comment