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If NARP does not have an idea of how much its vision will cost, how did it come up with the suggestion to up the federal gasoline tax by two to four cents a gallon to pay for it?I was a CPA and business systems analyst for many years for a Fortune 250 company.  I managed the implementation of large business process systems (millions of dollars) that, amongst other things, included complex and pricy IT systems.  Had I told executive management that we could not determine how much a system would cost or how the costs would be recovered, I would have been looking for another job.  NARP should have come up with a range of cost estimates for its proposal.    Alex Kummant told the Congress, for example, that it would cost approximately ten billion dollars to up grade the 457 mile North East Corridor to make it comparable to a high speed rail line.  In the same presentation he allowed that it costs approximately 20 to 25 million dollars a mile, excluding real estate acquisition costs, to build a dedicated high speed passenger rail line like the TGV.  Comparable numbers, in many instances, are available on the Internet.Coming up with a range of cost estimates would not have been a daunting task.  The cost per mile numbers can be obtained or constructed without too much pain.  It would be a matter of determining how much of the proposal could use existing facilities; how much would require new or upgraded facilities; what per cent would be in urban areas; what per cent would be in rural areas, etc.NARP could have hired a MBA student between his or her first and second year of business school to come up with a range of creditable cost estimates for its proposal.  D.C. is blessed with some good business schools, e.g. Georgetown, George Washington, University of Maryland, etc.  Most of the MBA students at these schools would work for a reasonable salary during the summer. The U.S. national debt recently hit nine trillion dollars.  Add in state, local, and personal debt, and the debt load begins to look impressive.  One of the reasons the U.S. is up to its neck in debt is because politicians, as well as their fellow travelers, make proposals without coming up with verifiable estimates of how much they will cost.  Unfortunately, many of the folks who argue for the expenditures are not around to pay the piper when the bill comes due.NARP's proposal may be incomplete.  That many ring better in some ears.  But it might get more serious attention if it had some numbers strung around it.
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