Amtrak crash shows the high cost of ignoring infrastructure

[Teddy B 17,251]

it's almost like big money in politics is destroying the effectiveness of political office. weird huh.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

You finally got it right. A mental challenged engineer screws up and mbd blames it on the pubs. Folks it don't get any more absurd than that

I've seen plenty of far more absurd claims made here on VJ. I haven't blamed pubs, by the way. Or are you now suggesting that all Republicans are Teahadists?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I've seen plenty of far more absurd claims made here on VJ. I haven't blamed pubs, by the way. Or are you now suggesting that all Republicans are Teahadists?

My biggest problem with the Libertarian tea party movement is I don't believe that the politicians who represent it believe their own rhetoric - it's little more than an ideological standpoint that is being used to create the appearance of promoting freedom, when the reality is that they just don't want to pay for anything or make any decisions that undercut their own business interests.

The people who support and go along with such a system are themselves disillusioned with mainstream politics, so of course they'll support anything that they think challenges the status quo - even if it ends up being just so much hot air.

Let's not have an affordable, quality health system if it means the health insurance industry gets told what they can and can't do or that *gasp* individual taxpayers share the cost - because clearly that's unconstitutional. Obviously the Founding Fathers of the country would have wanted the situation where people die of preventable illnesses in a system where access and quality of care are dependent on income.

Similarly, let's get up in arms when the government tries to impose some sort of mandatory requirement for health insurance - because naturally the freedom not to have insurance and live by the seat of your pants is more important that actually participating in a shared economy. Obviously the Founding Fathers wanted the USA to turn into a class system where access to basic resources and essential is determined by a person's socio-economic class.

All this BS about the free market sorting things out is garbage, because it just doesn't work. The interests of the market don't always coincide with the interests of the general public.

Incidentally, isn't the reason that the US doesn't have a decent train network to do largely with the interests car manufacturers and the airlines? It's not as though this is the first time anyone has questioned it - so why hasn't it happened? Could it perhaps that they have lobbied vigorously against any plan to get such a plan off the ground?

IMO Libertarians need to pony up and start offering real, practical solutions to real-world problems... Rather than what they are currently doing - fixating on ideology.

[Póg mo 1,749]

Everything wrong with this country is because of Republicans

No, libruls are the cause of all of Merica's problems. Ask any tea partyist.

[Sousuke 1,214]

Incidentally, isn't the reason that the US doesn't have a decent train network to do largely with the interests car manufacturers and the airlines? It's not as though this is the first time anyone has questioned it - so why hasn't it happened? Could it perhaps that they have lobbied vigorously against any plan to get such a plan off the ground?

It all started with Eisenhower. After reviewing the Autobahn, he pushed one of the largest highway projects in US history by building the Interstate System.

Train volume peaked in the 50s and began a decline through the 60s. Many of the nice stations in the country were torn down or converted in the 1970s.

You can point to two major developments for the decline of railroads and cities in the later half of the 20th century - cheap oil and the interstates.

You're probably aware that the UK took a much more conservative approach, and arguably better approach to building Motorways (though villages were still destroyed in the process). In fact the only major mistake made in the UK was the privitisation of the rail system where alot of the system was neglected despite high ridership.

Edited May 15, 2015 by Sousuke