Category Archives: Political Commentary

Economics, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Technology and Society

The Lunacy Of Federal High-Speed Rail

84 Comments

A take-down by Robert Samuelson.

[Update while later]

Florida Governor Rick Scott has turned down funding for it.

* My decision to reject the project comes down to three main economic realities:

o First – capital cost overruns from the project could put Florida taxpayers on the hook for an additional $3 billion.

o Second – ridership and revenue projections are historically overly-optimistic and would likely result in ongoing subsidies that state taxpayers would have to incur. (from $300 million – $575 million over 10 years) – Note: The state subsidizes Tri-Rail $34.6 million a year while passenger revenues covers only $10.4 million of the $64 million annual operating budget.

o Finally – if the project becomes too costly for taxpayers and is shut down, the state would have to return the $2.4 billion in federal funds to D.C.

That last “if” should be a “when.” Good for him. Too bad we don’t have as much sense in Sacramento.

[Update a couple minutes later]

This seems to have been influenced by my friend (and fellow member of the Competitive Space Task Force) Bob Poole of the Reason Foundation:

the Reason Foundation issued its report nearly two weeks ago. Using estimates for a proposed rail line in California, it projects the Tampa-to-Orlando link could cost $3 billion more than estimated.

Research by the Reason Foundation and the study’s main author, Wendell Cox, regularly offers a skeptical view of rail, so the findings are not particularly surprising. What’s notable is the work was overseen by Robert Poole, a foundation director who served on Scott’s transition team for transportation issues.

“It’s understandable that some are dreaming of flashy high-speed rail trains carrying tourists and residents between the two cities,” Poole said in a news release. “When you look at realistic construction costs and operating expenses you see these trains are likely to turn into a very expensive nightmare for taxpayers.”

Hey, Jerry, I’m sure Bob’s available for a similar analysis for CA. In case you haven’t noticed, you have budget problems, too.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary

The Climate Of Civility

27 Comments

What is wrong with these people? Remember, just like “racist,” when they call others misogynist, it’s pure projection.

[Update a few minutes later]

Speaking of projection, now the left is attacking Herman Cain. Guess he got too uppity for them. Remember this the next time a moron like Janeane Garafolo calls the Tea Partiers racist.

[Update mid-morning]

A little good news on the Lara Logan front — the Journal is reporting that it was “not a rape.” Which raises the question — what is a “sexual assault” against a woman that is “not a rape”?

[Update late morning]

Funny, she doesn’t look Jewish to me. The mob was shouting “Jew, Jew” as they attacked her. Sure gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling about the prospects for peace between the new government and Israel.

Political Commentary, Space

Competitive Space Task Force

16 Comments

I have a new web site up. It’s not pretty but it does the job. I may start blogging over there on space policy issues. If so, I’ll cross post here, though.

[Wednesday morning update]

I’ve got the site blocked temporarily while I fix some things that I broke last night. I hope it will be up a little later this morning.

[Update a while later]

OK, I’ve fixed things, I think, and reopened the site.

Business, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space

NASA Budget Issues

19 Comments

Andy Pasztor (I know, I know) has a piece in today’s Journal about the NASA budget proposal that was released a few minutes ago. As Jeff Foust notes, when he writes:

Commercial-space projects are years behind schedule, and critics still worry about placing undue reliance on them.

…compared to what? At least they weren’t slopping more than a year per year, as Constellation was, and they were spending orders of magnitude less money. Jeff also says:

…the article doesn’t say what that cutback in commercial crew funding is in respect to. If it’s compared to the 2012 projection in the administration’s FY11 budget request, which called for $1.4 billion, that is almost certainly correct, especially since the NASA authorization act passed last year included only $500 million for commercial crew development in 2012. It would be more newsworthy if the administration’s commercial crew request was less than that $500-million figure, especially since the article also indicates that the budget proposal “would be broadly consistent” with the act.

Actually, my reading of it is that it’s a cut from the $500M figure:

The White House last year initially proposed NASA spending of more than $1.2 billion annually on commercial spacecraft. Congress later reduced that figure to less than $500 million a year, and the latest budget envision further trims.

That sounds like a cut from the half billion to me. But then again, it is Andy Pasztor. Anyway, we’ll know today.

[Update a few minutes later]

Clark Lindsey has more thoughts, and there’s a lot of discussion in comments.

[Update a few mintues later]

Jeff Foust has more over at The Space Review today.

Political Commentary, Social Commentary

Be Careful

18 Comments

Don’t hurt the burglars. I liked this comment:

Don’t leave bottles of brown-coloured bottles of pesticides in your shed – burglars might think you have left them some beer. Don’t leave a supply of bird nuts – burglars might get food poisoning – thinking you were leaving them some munchies to go with the previous item. Don’t put pitch forks in your sheds – burglars might stab themselves on them as they clamber through the window. Don’t put glass in the window frame – burglars might get a scratch followed by blood poisoning. Make sure there is adequate lighting – in case burglars accidentally step on a rake and whack themselves in the gob. Please provide an adequate seating arrangement – so that weary burglars can take a rest, before taking the rest of your stuff. A bucket is NO substitute for slopping out, sorry I mean going to the ‘boudoir’. Burglars expect a proper netty! Adequate toilet paper should be on supply AT ALL TIMES!

Somehow, Great Britain doesn’t seem so great any more.