Current Affairs Donald Trump POS: Judgement cometh and that right soon

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The US is the second biggest contributor to global carbon emissions.
Here in the US, cars are the biggest contributor to carbon emissions.
I used that EV rebate to switch to a new EV.
Got a chevy, union built in the US.
The inflation reduction act also means my city can provide 100% renewable electricity.
Biden has done well in this area, all I need now is for the state to get its finger out and build out the charging infrastructure!

The car is great.
But it's nuts when you move here and realize that America has no real trains. And a very high % of Americans have never been on a train!
 
Ruairi77 said:
The US is the second biggest contributor to global carbon emissions.
Here in the US, cars are the biggest contributor to carbon emissions.
I used that EV rebate to switch to a new EV.
Got a chevy, union built in the US.
The inflation reduction act also means my city can provide 100% renewable electricity.
Biden has done well in this area, all I need now is for the state to get its finger out and build out the charging infrastructure!

The car is great.
But it's nuts when you move here and realize that America has no real trains. And a very high % of Americans have never been on a train!
Click to expand...
There has been talk for a long time of a high speed train from LA to San Francisco right? Is it not that the motor industry and airlines lobby against this?

I do like the Amtrak trains but it’s like a retirement home and is just as quick to drive.
 
JimmyJeffers said:
There has been talk for a long time of a high speed train from LA to San Francisco right? Is it not that the motor industry and airlines lobby against this?

I do like the Amtrak trains but it’s like a retirement home and is just as quick to drive.
Click to expand...
I think they're building the first genuine high speed train from LA to Vegas.
Which is kinda funny, build it to a city in the middle of the desert! It's a start I guess.
Amtrak, to me, seems over priced and slow.
Bos-NYC has the Acella which is only about 20 mins faster than regular Amtrak as well as only having business and first class.
I find it utterly bonkers that there isn't proper high speed trains connecting Bos-NYC-Philly-DC.
There's about 55 flights a day from Boston to all three cities. (more from NYC to the other three, and so on)
 
Ruairi77 said:
But it's nuts when you move here and realize that America has no real trains. And a very high % of Americans have never been on a train!
Click to expand...
I watched a video recently of a guy trying to travel coast to coast in the US east to west using only the Greyhound buses (Like the US equivalent of National Express) and it looks like a really awful service to use. A lot of poorer folks tend to use it for cross state travel as a cheaper alternative to flying, but their service looks appalling. The guy's bus was literally abandoned by the driver on at least 3 occasions as there was no one there to take over his shift, so they just got off and left the passengers in the middle of no-where for hours at a time.

 
LostLegend said:
I watched a video recently of a guy trying to travel coast to coast in the US east to west using only the Greyhound buses (Like the US equivalent of National Express) and it looks like a really awful service to use. A lot of poorer folks tend to use it for cross state travel as a cheaper alternative to flying, but their service looks appalling. The guy's bus was literally abandoned by the driver on at least 3 occasions as there was no one there to take over his shift, so they just got off and left the passengers in the middle of no-where for hours at a time.

Click to expand...

I used the greyhound buses to get right up the west coast and across to NY. Was total insanity.
 
Ruairi77 said:
I think they're building the first genuine high speed train from LA to Vegas.
Which is kinda funny, build it to a city in the middle of the desert! It's a start I guess.
Amtrak, to me, seems over priced and slow.
Bos-NYC has the Acella which is only about 20 mins faster than regular Amtrak as well as only having business and first class.
I find it utterly bonkers that there isn't proper high speed trains connecting Bos-NYC-Philly-DC.
There's about 55 flights a day from Boston to all three cities. (more from NYC to the other three, and so on)
Click to expand...
It's a problem of property values. If the government wanted to lay down high speed rail track from Boston to DC, it would have to seize some very expensive dirt, and compensate the owners. There's no way the existing rail system could accommodate high speed rail, because of the way we laid it out long ago.

The federal government could do it, but it's a very expensive project that at best benefits a dozen states if I'm generous and toss in Vermont and New Hampshire. Other states would want their own construction boondogles if they're to support this one. Buying off California, Texas, Illinois and Georgia might get it done in the House, but there will be a lot of states with their hands out in the Senate.

In case you haven't noticed, votes for infrastructure have been real hard to come by for a long time, and we do have to fix our bridges before they all fall into the drink first.

That leaves private industry, but they would rather cause artificial housing booms and, failing that, rehab large dilapidated sections of US cities. It's lower risk, and it pays better.
 
Martin Alvito said:
It's a problem of property values. If the government wanted to lay down high speed rail track from Boston to DC, it would have to seize some very expensive dirt, and compensate the owners. There's no way the existing rail system could accommodate high speed rail, because of the way we laid it out long ago.

The federal government could do it, but it's a very expensive project that at best benefits a dozen states if I'm generous and toss in Vermont and New Hampshire. Other states would want their own construction boondogles if they're to support this one. Buying off California, Texas, Illinois and Georgia might get it done in the House, but there will be a lot of states with their hands out in the Senate.

In case you haven't noticed, votes for infrastructure have been real hard to come by for a long time, and we do have to fix our bridges before they all fall into the drink first.

That leaves private industry, but they would rather cause artificial housing booms and, failing that, rehab large dilapidated sections of US cities. It's lower risk, and it pays better.
Click to expand...
There's always an excuse.
The main one usually trotted out is that freight companies own the rails and rent to Amtrak.
There are ways to utilize the interstate highway system.
On a smaller scale (Bos-NYC), there are ways to avoid the CT gold coast by going straight from RI to Long Island.
It can all be done.
The reason it isn't is because Americans are absolutely addicted to cars.
 
Ruairi77 said:
There's always an excuse.
The main one usually trotted out is that freight companies own the rails and rent to Amtrak.
There are ways to utilize the interstate highway system.
On a smaller scale (Bos-NYC), there are ways to avoid the CT gold coast by going straight from RI to Long Island.
It can all be done.
The reason it isn't is because Americans are absolutely addicted to cars.
Click to expand...
If it were the 1950s or 1960s, and the federal government were flush with cash, it would happen. The political bargaining problems aren't intractable, if the pot of available funds is large enough.

It isn't, so it doesn't happen. Detroit's clever marketing strategy to co-opt Eisenhower has little to do with today's political problems. Just because something can be done doesn't mean the political will exists, or even should, given the number of infrastructure cans we've kicked down the road for decades in the name of low taxes.
 
Martin Alvito said:
If it were the 1950s or 1960s, and the federal government were flush with cash, it would happen. The political bargaining problems aren't intractable, if the pot of available funds is large enough.

It isn't, so it doesn't happen. Detroit's clever marketing strategy to co-opt Eisenhower has little to do with today's political problems. Just because something can be done doesn't mean the political will exists, or even should, given the number of infrastructure cans we've kicked down the road for decades in the name of low taxes.
Click to expand...
It's about political will.
But it's also about economics and the environment.
HSR in the North east would serve about 1/3 of the population and take countless planes and cars out of the equasion.
There isnt the will because Americans hate change and love their cars.
We still have the dollar bill, still use Farenheit, still use imperial measurements, still put the month before the day and god dam it, well change for no one, no matter how stupid it is.
 
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