WISCONSIN: Then again, maybe they won't. Chicago-Milwaukee has been a big success, Amtrak's fastest-growing line outside the Northeast Corridor. Milwaukee-Madison was expected to be equally popular and a crucial step toward a Chicago-Minneapolis line that could transform the region. But Walker ran against the new train as the local embodiment of Big Government, and he won easily. No, stakes hadn't been sunk, but the feds had committed $810 million; Moses always expected politicians to cash checks like that. Walker didn't, even though the costs to the state would have been minimal.
Big Government is always a convenient political opponent, especially when times are tough and families are cutting back, and the Administration was clearly overconfident that high-speed rail would inevitably expand once stakes were sunk. Still, it's one thing to complain about federal spending and quite another thing to divert it elsewhere. Shortly after Wisconsin's money was redistributed, the Spanish firm Talgo announced plans to shut down its U.S. train-manufacturing operations in Milwaukee and relocate the jobs to a state that continues to pursue high-speed rail. "I can't wait to see the ads in Wisconsin in 2014," an Obama aide says. "You'll have some guy working on the train in Florida: 'Thanks for my job, Governor Walker!' "
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Walker Keeps Wisconsin In The Spotlight As A Running Gag
From Time.com:The man is an utter embarrassment.
Labels:
High Speed Rail,
Scott Walker
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Coggie, you are the running gag.
ReplyDeleteNobody thought the Milwaukee-Madison route would be popular!
Nobody!
It would have had zero impact on auto traffic and it would have been a losing proposition.
Now go buckle down for the really bad stuff headed your way.
You will laugh when you look back and remember that this bothered you so much.
And how much do you think Walker will get done before the indictments fly?
ReplyDelete