Amtrak Disaster

Only eight people died and more than 200 got hurt, so what's the big deal?????

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/05/17/paul-ryan-lied-amtrak-pledged-republican-infrastructure-funding.html

Citizens United=The Decline Of America!!

News Buzzard wrote:Only eight people died and more than 200 got hurt, so what's the big deal?????

The conductor has "lawyered-up". He may have been texting, as he was big into social media. He put photos of his private parts in a LGBTQI-LSMFT / comparison website. That's forced the MSM to blame Republicans for insufficient infrastructure monies, in order to keep their pages and air time filled.



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That's right! We're OK with those bridges and tunnels from the 1800s!

News Buzzard wrote:That's right! We're OK with those bridges and tunnels from the 1800s!

The "infrastructure" was rated at 50-MPH. This Democrat was operating the train at more than twice its rated limit.

Republicans can't fix stupid!



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Republicans can't fix anything!!!!

News Buzzard wrote:Republicans can't fix anything!!!!

Like Baltimore?

I'm already on record as saying that this country is doomed.

Obumbles is making certain of that.



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Your original post stated that the motorman may have been texting, so in other words you don't have a friggin' clue what was going on in the cab prior to the accident. This country will only be doomed if everyone gives any credence to idiotic statements like yours.

If the most up to date speed control was in place the train would not have been able to exceed the speed limit of 50MPH, regardless of what was going on in the cab.

NB, How do you propose to pay for health care for all, improved infrastructure, etc? We are 18T in debt and growing. The 1% can't pay it (even if you take all of their money and wealth. Something must give. BTW, the sensors etal were in place on that corridor, but not in use yet.

Red Hill, I don't see any justification for operating Amtrak in the Northeast Corridor on bridges and tunnels that were built in the late 19th and early 20th century, and I dispute your notion that we are broke. That's what the Republicans are telling you. I don't think you are aware of the extreme damage done to us by the Reagan and Bush tax policies, and we owe much of that $18 trillion in debt to the wars and Great Recession. The easy thing to do is blame Obama for everything because people have a short memory.

The Republicans tried to cut Amtrak funding by some 20% the last time around and they simply want to do away with it, like everything else except the Pentagon.

News Buzzard wrote:Red Hill, I don't see any justification for operating Amtrak in the Northeast Corridor on bridges and tunnels that were built in the late 19th and early 20th century..."

So Government took it upon itself to make it theirs, yet do nothing about 106+ MPH train rides?

News Buzzard wrote:"...and I dispute your notion that we are broke. That's what the Republicans are telling you..."

So how much money is left in the Government's lockbox?

News Buzzard wrote:The Republicans tried to cut Amtrak funding by some 20% the last time around and they simply want to do away with it, like everything else except the Pentagon.

If Amtrak can't pay for itself, it should be privatized. Just don't tear up the tracks in case of national emergency. Obumbles has put this country on heightened national alert already—and won't bring up the name of the obvious danger.

News Buzzard wrote:Red Hill, I don't see any justification for operating Amtrak in the Northeast Corridor on bridges and tunnels that were built in the late 19th and early 20th century, and I dispute your notion that we are broke. That's what the Republicans are telling you. I don't think you are aware of the extreme damage done to us by the Reagan and Bush tax policies, and we owe much of that $18 trillion in debt to the wars and Great Recession. The easy thing to do is blame Obama for everything because people have a short memory.

The Republicans tried to cut Amtrak funding by some 20% the last time around and they simply want to do away with it, like everything else except the Pentagon.

I did not blame Obama, I am asking what the path is. I did not say broke, I said 18T in debt.

So what did the gov. do with all the billions we paid in fuel taxes each year? Where did they put it?

Wow, so much fail here NB I don't know where to begin.

1 - There was, at this point, no issue with the trackage, it appears this was all operator error.

2 - The NE Corridor has some of the best maintained trackage in the country.

3 - Anthrax owns very little of it's own track.

4 - If government did not subsidize roads and interstates to the level it has, private passenger rail service would have continued on from it glory days of the early 20th century: fast, reliable and safe as houses.

News Buzzard wrote:Republicans can't fix anything!!!!

Liberals never let a crisis go to waste when they can steal money from it. As usual, their narrative is far more important than facts.

The PTC system that would have prevented the train from doubling the speed limit was approved and funds allocated by Congress. In fact Congress had mandated PTC for all major stretches of passenger rail including the curve where Train 188 derailed. Blaming Republicans for this is simply asinine.


Amtrak isn't infrastructure; it is political kick back money to unions. It appears the union driver was at fault here. Maybe if Amtrak was privatized and employees could be fired for poor performance accidents like this could be avoided.



Living out the liberal philosophy: There's no problem too big for taxpayer dollars to solve…Bankrupting the country, one dumb idea after another.

red_hill wrote:I did not blame Obama, I am asking what the path is. I did not say broke, I said 18T in debt.

Please forgive my sarcasm.

We have a gross domestic product that will knock the socks off any other country in the world. We have a much lower tax rate than most of Europe, with some countries over there above the 50% range, and I wonder if they have the extensive loophole network like us. The answer is higher taxes, especially on the upper end. The conservatives here will call it stealing money or redistribution of income, but the real redistribution of income and wealth started with the Reagan Administration and put into high gear during the Bush (43) Administration, with the wealth going from the lower end to the top few percent. That's your answer, Red Hill, we need a lot more revenue to get this country back on track and we won't get any help from the Republican Party. That's why we are heading toward a third world status!

Once again, your narrative does not match up with the facts.

1. The United States has the highest corporate tax rate in the world.
2. The United States has by far the most progressive income, payroll, wealth and property taxes of any developed country.

Europe has an extremely regressive tax system where the middle class and the poor pay the bulk of the taxes.


Unless you are calling for higher taxes on the poor and elderly, you better not use Europe as your model.

Outerlimits,

I would suggest the corporate tax rate in the USA is like Swiss Cheese; lots of holes.

Just because the USA is the most progressive in taxation it doesn't mean that we have enough revenue coming in. (See Clinton tax rates prior to Bush tax cuts)

A regressive consumption tax is not horribly regressive.

The most telling part of your post is your omission; you never challenged my assertion that we don't have enough revenue coming in. (see third world status.

"Liberals never let a crisis go to waste when they can steal money from it. As usual, their narrative is far more important than facts."

Yep right out of the liberals mouths!!

WHL wrote:
"Liberals never let a crisis go to waste when they can steal money from it. As usual, their narrative is far more important than facts."

Yep right out of the liberals mouths!!

Bridges and tunnels from the 1890s and early 1900s. Those are the facts!

News Buzzard wrote:The most telling part of your post is your omission; you never challenged my assertion that we don't have enough revenue coming in. (see third world status.)

A record number of Americans are disavowing their citizenship.

Why do you suppose the US loses our treasure and businesses to overseas havens?

It couldn't be a loss of personal liberties and the pursuit of happiness—or could it?



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News Buzzard wrote:"...The conservatives here will call it stealing money or redistribution of income, but the real redistribution of income and wealth started with the Reagan Administration and put into high gear during the Bush (43) Administration, with the wealth going from the lower end to the top few percent..."

"The top few percent" included the Middle Class—which has disappeared with Obumble's "investing".

Outerlimits wrote:

News Buzzard wrote:Republicans can't fix anything!!!!

Living out the liberal philosophy:  There's no problem too big for taxpayer dollars to solve…Bankrupting the country, one dumb idea after another.

'Reading what Seattle is spending on "new ideas" in infrastructure? Their tunneling machine doesn't work in reverse, and the cutter in front is broken.

Cost over-runs are going to be fierce!



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Paul Ryan conveniently forgets the cuts made to Amtrak:

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/05/14/3658757/paul-ryan-not-telling-truth-train-safety-funding/

Meanwhile, the Senate is trying to delay the full implementation of PTC for at least another 5 years:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/650/text

Do you know how to say Third World Country??

News Buzzard wrote:Do you know how to say Third World Country??

We just need more money?



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News Buzzard wrote:Outerlimits,

I would suggest the corporate tax rate in the USA is like Swiss Cheese; lots of holes.

Just because the USA is the most progressive in taxation it doesn't mean that we have enough revenue coming in. (See Clinton tax rates prior to Bush tax cuts)

A regressive consumption tax is not horribly regressive.

The most telling part of your post is your omission; you never challenged my assertion that we don't have enough revenue coming in. (see third world status.

The so called rich (250K+) already returned to the Clinton era tax rates. Returning to the spending levels of the Clinton era would be appropriate.

We don’t have a revenue problem.  We have a spending problem.  The Federal Government is collecting record revenues yet we still have historic deficits.
 
Obama has fixed the economy and it’s booming (so you say).    

Obama spent a trillion dollars on shovel ready infrastructure projects and it was an incredible success (so you say).  

The war is over…George W. Bush ended the war and brought our troops home when he signed the SOFA.  (You do like to give him credit for that when it’s a negative.)  


Why is the Federal government still spending at levels when we were conducting two wars?

What part of $17,000,000,000,000.00 don’t the Democrats understand? We can’t keep spending more and more, we need to spend a lot less and actually service the debt.