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California's bullet train (and biggest boondoggle) is over budget by billions Login/Join 
Don't Panic
Picture of joel9507
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quote:
Originally posted by Scoutmaster:
quote:
Originally posted by Rey HRH:...No shit, Sherlock. Not directed at you, Pipe Smoker, but at the stupid voters who voted for this.


I know a number of people who fit your description. Problem is, they will never acknowledge their insanity. Smile

California's basic problem is that their voters all think someone else is going to pay.

Whether that 'someone else' is some in-state entity in a different tax bracket, or taxpayers in the saner 49, or some bondholder just waiting to get fleeced upon default. Bottom line is they vote their feelings and don't worry about cost.

CA is the ultimate expression of the insanity of representation without taxation.
 
Posts: 15001 | Location: North Carolina | Registered: October 15, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Edit - Joel^^ nailed it. ^^

Ca. voters expected the rest of us to pick up the tab. They might have gotten lucky if Hillary was elected, but we have someone with common sense as President who knows costs and construction instead. Like Sig upthread noted, I say let them pay the bill they voted in if they still want it, and if they don't, too fucking bad. Not my problem.

BTW, when the voters approved the $10 billion bond, the cost (from memory) was $24 billion. It rose several times to @$68 Billion and then went up to the $98 billion range. They did some paring back to get it back to $68 million.

http://www.politifact.com/cali...-several-hundred-mi/
 
Posts: 1918 | Location: Pacific Northwet | Registered: August 01, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Nosce te ipsum
Picture of Woodman
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quote:
Originally posted by jdmb03:
Current estimate $67 billion. WTF!
That means $200B ... Roll Eyes ... Their current obligations? Who knows. Hundreds of billions. Of dollars.
 
Posts: 8759 | Registered: March 24, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Tinker Sailor Soldier Pie
Picture of Balzé Halzé
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That's quite unbelievable. There should be a large swath of people going to prison over this.


~Alan

Acta Non Verba
NRA Life Member (Patron)
God, Family, Guns, Country

Men will fight and die to protect women... because women protect everything else. ~Andrew Klavan

"Once there was only dark. If you ask me, light is winning." ~Rust Cohle
 
Posts: 30299 | Location: Elv. 7,000 feet, Utah | Registered: October 29, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by ElToro:
Let call it what it was. A blatant sop to the various unions who would build it. Let’s also not investigate too deeply the politicians who conveniently owned land in areas that would be eminent domained for track. This was widely called a boondoggle before vote even took place and Moonbeam just crammed it down our throats. The train from nowhere to nowhere that nobody will use. FML. One more reason to blow out of this place sooner rather than later.


And the hundreds of millions of dollars spent thus far in consulting and planning. My guess is that the train will never be built, but a few billion will be spent......thinking and planning for it. Nice work CA!


P229
 
Posts: 3808 | Location: Sacramento, CA | Registered: November 21, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
That's quite unbelievable. There should be a large swath of people going to prison over this.


Probably wouldn't happen...

Example:

City of Tucson (Democrats in control) squandered over $250 million in a 10 year period on a project called Rio Nuevo, a mass redevelopment scheme west of I-10.

State AG, after a thorough investigation, found no one responsible for the fraud. Couldn't find anyone with directly accepting funds.

Democrats can be slick...


*********
"Some people are alive today because it's against the law to kill them".
 
Posts: 8228 | Location: Arizona | Registered: August 17, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of bigdeal
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quote:
Originally posted by trapper189:
SunRail. 3,000 riders a day, weekdays only for the most part. $7,000,000 a year in revenue at an annual cost of $34,000,000. Of course it must be expanded, they plan to make it up in volume!

It's that new math.
And that 3,000 riders a day number is complete and utter fantasy. I'd be shocked if the daily ridership was even half of that. From what I've personally seen while sitting at the crossings, the damn thing runs virtually empty.


-----------------------------
Guns are awesome because they shoot solid lead freedom. Every man should have several guns. And several dogs, because a man with a cat is a woman. Kurt Schlichter
 
Posts: 33845 | Location: Orlando, FL | Registered: April 30, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
His Royal Hiney
Picture of Rey HRH
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
That's quite unbelievable. There should be a large swath of people going to prison over this.


I don't think that's going to happen.

I remember out of nowhere, people said we need a new portion of the Bay Bridge. Nevermind that the bridge was already retrofitted.

But, in any case, they built the new fancy looking bridge section from Treasure Island to Oakland. Then shortly after opening, news about inspections not being made, not certified substandard bolts from China were used, leaking in some parts. It simmered for a while but now not a bubble.

It's like some third world shithole country where politicians and their cronies suck out the life blood from people.



"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.
 
Posts: 19583 | Location: The Free State of Arizona - Ditat Deus | Registered: March 24, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Political Cynic
Picture of nhtagmember
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if California was smart (and we all know they're not - this was more rhetorical), they'd simply hire the Japanese to come over and build it themselves as a contractor - no re-inventing a wheel, been there done that...

these people are seriously stupid, they're clueless and abysmally low IQ - room temperature is smarter

is it the water (or lack thereof) that causes so many of these people to be such idiots...



[B] Against ALL enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC


 
Posts: 53086 | Location: Tucson Arizona | Registered: January 16, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Thank you
Very little
Picture of HRK
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By the time the boolit train is ready, Elon Musk will already have the hyperloop in El Ehh done, heck he'll probably have a tube from NorCal to SoCal done, no need for trains, planes or automobiles, just pop into your sardine can, click off a couple of credits on your MuskTranspoCard and bing! you're where you're going...

https://www.wired.com/2017/01/...digging-los-angeles/



 
Posts: 23244 | Location: Florida | Registered: November 07, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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crossing dozens of fault lines at $150 m.p.h.,
maybe it would be beneficial in the long run for us to pay for it Wink





Safety, Situational Awareness and proficiency.



Neck Ties, Hats and ammo brass, Never ,ever touch'em w/o asking first
 
Posts: 54502 | Location: Henry County , Il | Registered: February 10, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Irksome Whirling Dervish
Picture of Flashlightboy
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This project was doomed from the start. As a resident of the goofy state, these are the pertinent points, all pointing to failure:

1. Jerry Brown has a small penis complex compared to his father, the former governor Pat Brown. Pat Brown was responsible for a number of decent and worthwhile projects in CA and Jerry wants to look good to his deceased dad.

2. No private money is investing in this and never will. That's because it will forever lose money and never turn a profit aka it will always have to be subsidized if it's ever completed.

3. Nothing is high speed about this. The rail tracks in the destination areas are owned by freight companies and you are unable to go bullet train fast through the urban areas. You can go no faster than the current Amtrak.

4. No one will ride on this for speed or ease of use when you can fly to the train destination areas for $100 or so and much faster.

5. If this thing is every fully built, it will be ready for a museum right away because technology will likley make this obsolete.

6. Democrats like underfunding projects knowing that they will appeal to the public by saying that all the money previously spent will be wasted if we don't finish it. That works a lot of time but here it's many billions they need for more at least 15 years each year.
 
Posts: 4069 | Location: "You can't just go to Walmart with a gift card and get a new brother." Janice Serrano | Registered: May 03, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
I believe in the
principle of
Due Process
Picture of JALLEN
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Rey HRH:
quote:
Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
That's quite unbelievable. There should be a large swath of people going to prison over this.


I don't think that's going to happen.



Neither do I.

For one thing, they can’t afford to build and operate more prisons, and the ones they have are under court orders to reduce the number of inmates.

These rail projects are always boondoggles.

Look up the light rail line from Escondido to Oceanside. Compare projections used to justify the project with operations.

Find a project that has been any different.




Luckily, I have enough willpower to control the driving ambition that rages within me.

When you had the votes, we did things your way. Now, we have the votes and you will be doing things our way. This lesson in political reality from Lyndon B. Johnson

"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." - Justice Janice Rogers Brown
 
Posts: 48369 | Location: Texas hill country | Registered: July 04, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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