Obama’s Crazy Train

President Obama just doesn’t seem to understand that the nation is in dire straits in terms of fiscal policy and that government make-work projects are not the way to get our economy going.

The president released his $53 billion plan for so-called “high-speed” rail although the top speeds of the trains would be nowhere near the speeds of near 200 mph reached by European high speed trains. Transportation analyst Randal O’Toole has previously debunked Obama’s boondoggle for the Rio Grande Foundation.

Oh, and to all you rail fans out there who think this is a great idea, remember that these trains would be funded out of “General Fund” dollars (more debt from China) while our roads are paid for (by and large) by the people who use them in the form of gas taxes and other user-fees. I’d love to see the federal government get out of the road funding business and leave it to the states and/or private companies, but the fact is that roads mostly pay for themselves while these trains will be budgetary black holes.