Transportation Secretary Lahood will be speaking to the McLean County Chamber of Commerce. As a former congressman from Illinois Lahood stated: “I think high speed rail is a bad idea because we don’t have the money to fund routes that currently serve Illinois.” However, since Lahood is now a member of the President’s cabinet he is pushing a train that averages 55 to 75mph as high speed rail.
The federal stimulus for high speed rail is $13 billion with a bill in the US House calling for $50 billion more over the next six years. Japan’s National Railway recently forced citizens to absorb $200 billion in losses and the European Union spends $100 billion a year subsidizing rail.
Proponents of High Speed Rail suggest that for every $1 billion dollars spent 20,000 jobs will be created. But these job creation estimates are based on spending for freight rail, not passenger rail. That figure also works out to $50,000 per job many of which would be temporary.
According to the Illinois Policy Institute high speed rail is part of the Obama Administration's "livability" campaign to reshape the lifestyles of average Americans. Secretary Lahood has stated “About everything we do around here is government intrusion into people's lives,” and "It is a way to coerce people out of their cars." In LaHood’s quest for controlling Americans and promoting sustainability the unintended consequence is Unsustainable debt and loss of liberty on the backs of the forgotten working man.
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