The Irate Nation Est. 2001

High Speed Rail + Obama = Epic Fail

I was originally going to do this post on my own blog - but - just didn't have room for it.

As you all heard - Obama and Biden were in Tampa this past week to announce they were giving Florida $1.25 Billion to put in a high speed rail system that runs between Tampa and  Orlando.  This is a major major clusterfuck of a mistake and will end up being a huge boondoggle.  This may as well be the train to nowhere.

I am a Tampa area resident.  As  I type this, I am currently on a weekend vacation in Disney in Orlando.  I know the route this train will take.  Oh - did I happen to mention that from downtown Tampa to downtown Orlando is only 80 miles?  What the hell do we need a 200mph high speed bullet train for that short distance?  We don't.

Last November - the people of Florida voted against this bullet train.  This has been on our ballets every election cycle since 2000 and every election - we the people keep saying no.  However, this year - since those idiots passed that stimulus spending bill - our RINO Governor urged our state senate to pass it anyway so he can get that stimulus spending bill money. I'm going to lay this out very clearly why this is just another epic fail for Obama - and will be an epic fail for Crist come November.

1. We don't have any commerce between Tampa and Orlando

2. The people of Florida have said NO to this for well over a decade

3. There will be very few riders on this train. Essentially, the only people who might actually use it are vacationers from Tampa to Disney. There aren't that many of us.

4. After 5 years of federal government subsidies to cover the losses (Amtrak sound familiar?) The people in the state of Florida will be responsible - our taxes are going to skyrocket.

5. Did I mention there is only 80 miles of track needed?

6. The average speed of a high speed rail train is only 150 mph to begin with. So - with having a set departure time and all the check in time and having to go slow to leave the city and then slow down to enter the destination city then all the deboarding etc (and they added stops in between)...you can actually get from one city to another in less time.  The speed limit on the I-4 corridor is 75mph.  Most of us drive it doing 90mph+.

7. People who live in Tampa don't work in Orlando and vice versa.  This is not expected to change with this train either.

All-in-all this is a huge waste of taxpayer dollars AGAIN.  This will guarantee that Crist won't be elected as Senator this November - and - when he loses that - he won't win reelection for Governor either.  This boondoggle train to nowhere can and will be used against Obama in 2012 since this train isn't expected to be operational until 2014 - yet - the taxpayer outlay begins immediately.

While there might be 1000 jobs created to build this thing - once it's complete - you will need - what? 2 or 3 people on each end to work the gates.  2 or 3 janitors on each end to clean the terminals and 2 or 3 engineers to run the train and maybe a crew of 5 or 10 maintenance personnel on each end to keep it up and running.  Since its such a short ride you won't need any cabin personnel.  This is hardly a job creating project.  When I think of jobs - I think long term.  Long term full time jobs on this will be less than 50 for sure - all being government taxpayer supported employees.

The only people who make money on this are the developers, contractors, and engine builders.  In the meantime American taxpayers, and especially the Florida taxpayers, all lose.