$11 billion later, high speed rail in US drags along

[Anonymous]

schlimm

Sam1

The best and brightest business executives are motivated to generate a return for their stakeholders. It is a passion with them. It was a passion with me. I never met a top business executive or entrepreneur who would work for an organization that consistently loses money.  Which makes me wonder? What kind of an executive or senior manager goes to work for an Amtrak?   Getting up every morning knowing that you are with a loser cannot be very motivating.  

In health and most research in physics and the other sciences as well as medicine, the best and brightest work for not-for-profits organizations and non-profit universities.  The lack of striving for a profit doesn't seem to be a barrier there to high motivation.

Research is not a commercial enterprise, although it may have commercial implications down the road. Amtrak is a commercial enterprise that competes with airlines and bus companies.

I have read over the years a number of reports that question the efficacy of some pure research. A couple of years ago I visited the Golden Spike Tower at UP's North Platte Yard. On the way home I noticed as I drove through Nebraska and Iowa billboards touting the cancer research programs at their state universities. Similar research is conducted at MD Anderson in Houston. I got to wondering. How well are these research programs coordinated?  And how effective are they? 

[CMStPnP]

CSSHEGEWISCH

This explains why I'm glad I don't live in Texas.

To each their own. I get along with LEO's so well because a good portion of them are Veterans of the current conflicts and they are stepping up a second time to protect us all from others wanting to commit violence. It's a huge sacrifice most of them are making.......deserving my respect.

[dakotafred]

CMStPnP

CSSHEGEWISCH

This explains why I'm glad I don't live in Texas.

To each their own. I get along with LEO's so well because a good portion of them are Veterans of the current conflicts and they are stepping up a second time to protect us all from others wanting to commit violence. It's a huge sacrifice most of them are making.......deserving my respect.

 

Kind of a stretch, Milwaukee. I suspect most of them, like most of us, are simply trying to make a living -- in this case, employing such skills as they may have learned in the military.

[schlimm]

Sam1

On the way home I noticed as I drove through Nebraska and Iowa billboards touting the cancer research programs at their state universities. Similar research is conducted at MD Anderson in Houston. I got to wondering. How well are these research programs coordinated?  And how effective are they? 

You only need to see the huge improvements in cancer survival rates over the last 30 years or so to know the answer.

[Paul Milenkovic]

schlimm

Sam1

On the way home I noticed as I drove through Nebraska and Iowa billboards touting the cancer research programs at their state universities. Similar research is conducted at MD Anderson in Houston. I got to wondering. How well are these research programs coordinated?  And how effective are they? 

You only need to see the huge improvements in cancer survival rates over the last 30 years or so to know the answer.

You are right.  Public money can be spent effectively.  And the U.S. has the highest per capita health care spending among our trading partners, benefiting not only ourselves but other in the world as well.

And to the extent that there is "waste" in government spending, healthcare, in many people's minds, is a higher priority for the money saved by eliminating such waste than many other things.  That is why I believe that the money spent on trains needs to be spent effectively,. 

Whether a small amount of money in the Federal scheme of things, a mere 11 billion dollars, was spent effectively is the subject of this thread.  The idea is that if 'we" could have an impact with the 11 billion dollars, that could lead to other grants, larger grants in the future.

[schlimm]

Paul Milenkovic

Whether a small amount of money in the Federal scheme of things, a mere 11 billion dollars, was spent effectively is the subject of this thread.  The idea is that if 'we" could have an impact with the 11 billion dollars, that could lead to other grants, larger grants in the future.

Precisely!!   Buying even more new baggage cars is not spending in an effective manner.  Improving RoWs so that trains can achieve higher average speeds in corridors is effective.   Too ad that didn't work out better in WI.

[blue streak 1]

Where is this number coming from about $11B spent which was actually $10.6 ?  This poster understands that only $2.0 B + had actually been spent ?.  All the rest has not been assigned  ?  Anyone know ?