Glenn Reynolds: Politics Without Romance

Great column on a more realistic, and more cynical, view of how things really work. An elaboration of his pet catchphrase "insufficient opportunities for graft."

Posted by: Ace at 02:12 PM

Comments

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1 Shazbot!

Posted by: Bandersnatch, Opus/Bill the Cat 2016 at February 05, 2016 02:14 PM (1xUj/)

2 At last.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at February 05, 2016 02:14 PM (DuH+r)

3 Graft is in the air ...

Posted by: @votermom at February 05, 2016 02:14 PM (cbfNE)

4 Woah, I ain't reading all that shit. Someone give me the tl;dr. Was the movie any good?

Posted by: mugiwara at February 05, 2016 02:14 PM (D5hxK)

5 Ace must have found out he really liked taking showers.

Posted by: Satan of Berlin, Vt at February 05, 2016 02:14 PM (qSIlh)

6 Free at last, free at last!

Free of the art thread!

We shall now sing the songs of our people!

Posted by: *Mikey NTH - Feel the Bern! Bernie-Fro's have arrived at the Outrage Outlet! at February 05, 2016 02:16 PM (hLRSq)

7 "opportunities for graft"

Oh, lawdie Huma, I love it when you talk dirty to me.

Posted by: Hillary! at February 05, 2016 02:16 PM (TxJGV)

8 Executive Summary: Politicians Are Crooks.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at February 05, 2016 02:16 PM (8ZskC)

9 850!

Posted by: Roland THTG at February 05, 2016 02:17 PM (QM5S2)

10 ...all that for this?...heading back to the H2 for BBF!!!

Posted by: billygoat at February 05, 2016 02:17 PM (INxoa)

11 Government and Mafia are very similar when not constrained.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 05, 2016 02:17 PM (+Ifkm)

12 Love without anger.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot Jr. at February 05, 2016 02:17 PM (FkBIv)

13 You guys just leave me and my graft alone, pick on Bill for a change. And be really nice to my ugly daughter, dogs won't even play her.

Posted by: Hillary! at February 05, 2016 02:17 PM (Y0vrN)

14 Ace must have found out he really liked ~~taking showers~~ fap sessions.

Fixed.

Posted by: rickb223 at February 05, 2016 02:18 PM (KUNWw)

15 Not only would I not trust most politicians to watch my kids, I wouldn't trust them to scrub my toilets.

It's beyond me why some people become so personally invested in the notion that "their guy" is all that and a bag of chips. Newsflash: he isn't.

Posted by: pep at February 05, 2016 02:18 PM (LAe3v)

16 Graft always goes better with a big helping of vodka, some theme music and me surrounded by beautiful women. The finer things in life!

Posted by: Hillary! at February 05, 2016 02:18 PM (TxJGV)

17 The Puppy Blender is a smart guy.
read the whole thing, but here's the opening:

Why do politicians get so excited over things like streetcars and "light rail?" What's wrong with buses?

The answer isn't that politicos are train aficionados, but rather the standard answer for why politicians don't like some things as much as they like others: Insufficient opportunities for graft.

You see, the problem with buses is that you can change a bus route by printing up some new maps. Routes for things that run on rails, on the other hand, are harder to change.

That would seem to be a mark in favor of buses, right? They're much more flexible. But when you think about opportunities for graft, buses come up short.

Posted by: Satan of Berlin, Vt at February 05, 2016 02:18 PM (qSIlh)

18 Free at last, free at last!

Free of the art thread!

We shall now sing the songs of our people!

Pew pew pew pew pew pew!

Posted by: rickb223 at February 05, 2016 02:18 PM (KUNWw)

19 Green energy/global warming is nothing more than a graft machine. Democrat politicians give money to the eco warriors who turn around and donate huge amounts to the very same democrat pols.

It's so glaringly obvious.

Posted by: JackStraw at February 05, 2016 02:18 PM (/tuJf)

20 15
Not only would I not trust most politicians to watch my kids, I wouldn't trust them to scrub my toilets.

It's
beyond me why some people become so personally invested in the notion
that "their guy" is all that and a bag of chips. Newsflash: he isn't.

Posted by: pep

Except for my guy, of course. He's aces.

Posted by: pep at February 05, 2016 02:19 PM (LAe3v)

21 heh.

Posted by: Fritz at February 05, 2016 02:19 PM (UzPAd)

22 Besides it's not "graft graft" if it's just what they offered. After all, it's not like I shook them down or something.

Posted by: Hillary! at February 05, 2016 02:19 PM (TxJGV)

23 Money makes the world go round, the world go round, the world go round.

Posted by: life is a cabaret! old chum at February 05, 2016 02:19 PM (NSb9d)

24 I predict that the Glenn Reynolds piece will be mined for all insightful or funny riffs within the first 30 comments. After that, it's Art Thread redux.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at February 05, 2016 02:20 PM (8ZskC)

25 I'm all in favor of 'light rail'. Especially when used after tar and feathering to run politicians out of town.

Posted by: ugg boots at February 05, 2016 02:20 PM (fbovC)

26 So them Russians know how to handle those scummy muzzies, just kick their asses when they get grabby.

Posted by: Killerdog at February 05, 2016 02:20 PM (Y0vrN)

27 Ace must have found out he really liked taking showers.
Posted by: Satan of Berlin, Vt at February 05, 2016 02:14 PM (qSIlh)

He discovered all the shower head settings, if you know what I mean (and I know you do).

Posted by: filbert at February 05, 2016 02:21 PM (s5o+q)

28 I'm all in favor of 'light rail'. Especially when used after tar and feathering to run politicians out of town.
Posted by: ugg boots

Do they go far enough away?

Posted by: Bertram Cabot Jr. at February 05, 2016 02:22 PM (FkBIv)

29 Prof. Reynolds is wrong. We trust Harry Reid to babysit our children.

Posted by: Parents of Michael Jackson's Sleepover Friends at February 05, 2016 02:22 PM (3GAnN)

30 Graft,
can ya dig it.

Posted by: Isaac Who at February 05, 2016 02:22 PM (DL2i+)

31 Can we eliminate this problem? Nope. But we can make it worse, or better. The more the government does and the more decisions that are relegated to bureaucrats, 'guidance' and other forms of decisionmaking that are far from the public eye, the more freedom politicians have to pursue their own interest at the expense of the public

This borders on the self-evident.

So why isn't everyone a small-L libertarian?

Posted by: Bandersnatch, Opus/Bill the Cat 2016 at February 05, 2016 02:22 PM (1xUj/)

32 I would definitely trust Bill Clinton to babysit my kids.

Posted by: Bill Cosby at February 05, 2016 02:23 PM (DrC22)

33 Public Choice Theory.

Needs to be much more widely understood.

Like, taught beginning in grade school, I think.

I mean, it's not complex.

People act according to their own self-interest. Even politicians.

Posted by: filbert at February 05, 2016 02:23 PM (s5o+q)

34 I fear this article is more true than not, especially at the local and state level. At the federal level their sites are set a bit higher, of course. The A-10 doesn't make anyone rich so we need to get rid of it and make a new plane that will!

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at February 05, 2016 02:23 PM (39g3+)

35 That conspiracy against the laity is even worse when they're the .gov

Posted by: Isaac Who at February 05, 2016 02:24 PM (DL2i+)

36 29
Prof. Reynolds is wrong. We trust Harry Reid to babysit our children.

Of course you do. I'm here, aren't I?

Posted by: Moose, errrr, exercise band at February 05, 2016 02:24 PM (LAe3v)

37 And after years of the grafting , when the things are finally running, they get to say, "You didn't build that!"

Posted by: OldDominionMom at February 05, 2016 02:25 PM (GzDYP)

38 >>>You see, the problem with buses is that you can change a bus route by printing up some new maps.

This is why Atlanta is getting light rail, good and hard, whether it wants it or not.

Posted by: An Poc ar Buile at February 05, 2016 02:25 PM (bpn7O)

39 Whew, I was beginning to get that no-so-fresh feeling. Welcome, nood

Posted by: Gouverneur Morris at February 05, 2016 02:25 PM (dQJCS)

40 Hillary Clinton
FIGHTING FOR US

Posted by: Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton at February 05, 2016 02:25 PM (8ZskC)

41 So why isn't everyone a small-L libertarian?
Posted by: Bandersnatch, Opus/Bill the Cat 2016 at February 05, 2016 02:22 PM (1xUj/)

Because wouldn't it be cool if we had a trolley??? (no one rides the trolley? we should expand the lines!)

Posted by: Lea at February 05, 2016 02:27 PM (lIU4e)

42 End of 39, start of 40: "nood Hillary Clinton"

Eeeeuuuuwwwww

Posted by: Furious George at February 05, 2016 02:27 PM (3GAnN)

43 So why isn't everyone a small-L libertarian?

The weather service issued a small graft warning.

Posted by: Isaac Who at February 05, 2016 02:27 PM (DL2i+)

44 Funny, NYC Mayor DiBlasio just proposed a $2.5B light rail project to run from Queens to Brooklyn, inland from the East River. This, while his ongoing project to get rid of NYC horse carriages so that the West Side stables will go to a Developer/Donor hit another speed bump.

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 05, 2016 02:27 PM (r1fLd)

45 As Reynolds says, there really is no way to fix that completely. But a big part of the problem is that there is always more money, and it always comes from tomorrow. That's why we end up with both trains and buses.

Zero-based budgeting with a defined limit would not kill all graft, but would force harder choices to be made.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at February 05, 2016 02:27 PM (2lndx)

46 A fine romance, with no kisses
A fine romance, my friend this is
We should be like a couple of happy peas,
But you're as cold as yesterday's glad-handing sleeze

Posted by: Jerome Kern at February 05, 2016 02:27 PM (DrC22)

47
People always get pissed when they try to change bus routes in SF and LA and for good reason. Those bus routes were the old Pony Express lines from 1857.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at February 05, 2016 02:28 PM (iQIUe)

48 The Tyranny of the Trees!

Posted by: eleven at February 05, 2016 02:28 PM (qUNWi)

49 Woah, I ain't reading all that shit. Someone give me the tl;dr. Was the movie any good?

Posted by: mugiwara at February 05, 2016 02:14 PM (D5hxK)

Short version of public choice theory -- politicians are not noble or self sacrificing and make decisions the same way everybody else does... with an eye toward what is best for them personally. The trouble is that they are able to do that with our pocketbooks instead of their own.

Posted by: redbanzai at February 05, 2016 02:28 PM (OrI3J)

50 So why isn't everyone a small-L libertarian?

Insufficient opportunities for graft.

It's an endless loop.

Well, almost endless. Math will eventually have his say.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at February 05, 2016 02:29 PM (2lndx)

51 So why isn't everyone a small-L libertarian?
Posted by: Bandersnatch, Opus/Bill the Cat 2016 at February 05, 2016 02:22 PM (1xUj/)

Also, because if our state of 3 million people has light rail, like a city of 10 million, we will become just as cool as they are!

Posted by: Lea at February 05, 2016 02:29 PM (lIU4e)

52 A really good resource for anti-mass transit stuff is Randall O'Toole at the Cato institute. (I used to be in a bicycle coop with him back in the 70s in Portland. I can't tell you how shocked I was when I read the anti-transit stuff!)

I was interviewing for a job in Portland once, so I looked into taking mass transit from Vancouver WA to Beaverton. Turned out it would take two hours and I'd have to drive into Portland to catch the Max. Since I would have had to get up at 6 in the morning for this, it just didn't make any sense. Here in Vancouver, voters have rejected light rail into Portland at least three times. (And in the process, they gave the Portland transit company rights of emminent domain in THIS state. Still don't understand how they get away with that.)

Since they weren't having any luck with the county commissioners, they put up a message for Home Rule, which expanded the commisssioners to five. They got two Lefties elected, one conservative that turned on us and are now back on track to push light rail yet again. It just never ends.

Posted by: notsothoreau at February 05, 2016 02:30 PM (5HBd1)

53 People always get pissed when they try to change bus routes in SF and LA and for good reason. Those bus routes were the old Pony Express lines from 1857.

Neigh, I say. Neigh!

Posted by: rickb223 at February 05, 2016 02:31 PM (KUNWw)

54 It would be great if more people would catch up with Glenn Reynolds and realize that personal interest has a role to play in politics.

As I've advocated for a long time, we can acknowledge reality and make adjustments to our system. First, campaign finance reform.

Let every challenger raise as much money from any U.S. source as they want, fully disclosed immediately on line, totally transparent. All money is paid into a trust account managed by a public accounting firm, every activity on the account is disclosed online within 24 hours.

At a date certain for the primary and general election, the incumbent gets a matching amount from the Treasury to his trust account. No elected official is allowed to solicit money for anything while in office.

Second, compensation: Congressmen - 500K base plus a 500K bonus for meeting budget deadlines and keeping overall spending less than 18% of GDP. NetJet account for light jets based on distance from Washington. Housing 10K/mo.

Senators - 750K base, 750K bonus based on the same goals. NetJets at 200 hrs/yr on medium jets. 15K/mo housing allowance.

President - 2 million base, 2 million bonus.

Posted by: jwest at February 05, 2016 02:31 PM (Zs4uk)

55 Chicago thug politics is all about graft; it couldn't exist without it. Obama's worst quality is that he brought the the Chicago thug politics to the national scene; that will do more lasting damage to the country than any other one thing he did - barring of course an Iranian nuclear attack - in which case we would have a tie.

Posted by: An Observation at February 05, 2016 02:31 PM (1jyp6)

56 One of the only decent things Kasich has done in Ohio is killing Ted Strickland's planned "High speed" (45 mph) Rail line between Cleveland and Cincy.

Posted by: buzzion at February 05, 2016 02:32 PM (zt+N6)

57 It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.

Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-citizens.

Even a beggar does not depend on it entirely.

The charity of well-disposed people, indeed, supplies him with the whole fund of his subsistence.

Posted by: The Ghost of Adam Smith at February 05, 2016 02:32 PM (s5o+q)

58 Public transportation blah blah graft blah blah.

Does anyone use the word "buxom" much anymore?

Posted by: Furious George at February 05, 2016 02:32 PM (3GAnN)

59 As Reynolds says, there really is no way to fix that
completely. But a big part of the problem is that there is always more
money, and it always comes from tomorrow. That's why we end up with both
trains and buses.

Zero-based budgeting with a defined limit would not kill all graft, but would force harder choices to be made.

Posted by: Stephen who had a long ass unbroken string in his link at February 05, 2016 02:27 PM (2lndx)

Limiting the number of things they are allowed to do before we start looking for rope and good sturdy lampposts would work better.

Posted by: redbanzai at February 05, 2016 02:33 PM (OrI3J)

60 One of the only decent things Kasich has done in Ohio is killing Ted Strickland's planned "High speed" (45 mph) Rail

Um, high speed rail is 300+ mph Jap bullet trains.
45 mph is car speeds.

Posted by: rickb223 at February 05, 2016 02:34 PM (KUNWw)

61 Light rail is popular with the Middle Class who wouldn't get caught dead on a city bus. But they only use it infrequently, so it never meets revenue forecasts. But the debt on the enormous fixed cost has to be serviced, so Light Rail will invariably come back and ask for operating subsidies. Rinse and repeat.

Meanwhile the working class rides city buses, which are relatively cost-effective.

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 05, 2016 02:34 PM (r1fLd)

62 You'll be happier with me in the presidency than as SecState.

There I was basically forced to sell out to foreign governments, because that's all the people I talked to day in and day out. That was my available market, you understand.

As President, my market is mainly domestic. You and yours, in other words, will have the chance to pay me as much as the Saudis paid me once upon a time.

Posted by: Hillary! at February 05, 2016 02:34 PM (TxJGV)

63 @56 Knowing Kasich, he'll probably replace it with a canal.
Financed with cigarette taxes.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at February 05, 2016 02:34 PM (xq1UY)

64 Did you hear I was dead broke before my pay to play foundation?

Posted by: Granny Mao at February 05, 2016 02:34 PM (FuBZa)

65 Obama and Boehner and McConnell and Reid and Pelosi---Five Americans who are THE world leaders in creating opportunities for graft.

....and Trump says we (USA) don't win at anything anymore!

Posted by: Lower Class person whose opinions need to be guided at February 05, 2016 02:34 PM (fC+Kl)

66 Its not all just graft and greed, of course. There's a certain cultural bent for these politicians as well. They view a bus as low class and scummy but a "light rail" train as European and classy. It fits their designer image of a city, where busses do not. Plus busses have all that pollution don't you know.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at February 05, 2016 02:34 PM (39g3+)

67 If I had a sergeant major, I'd win this bloody war.

Posted by: Captain Ichabod Worthington - Sykes, HM Fusiliers at February 05, 2016 02:34 PM (oca9z)

68 >>Second, compensation: Congressmen - 500K base plus a 500K bonus for meeting budget deadlines and keeping overall spending less than 18% of GDP. NetJet account for light jets based on distance from Washington. Housing 10K/mo.

>>Senators - 750K base, 750K bonus based on the same goals. NetJets at 200 hrs/yr on medium jets. 15K/mo housing allowance.

>>President - 2 million base, 2 million bonus.

Why would you give them a tripling or even a quadrupling of their income before they even accomplish squat? There is no reason to give anyone of them a raise over their current base, they are amply rewarded. If you want to give them a bonus for meeting certain goals that is a completely different story.

Posted by: JackStraw at February 05, 2016 02:34 PM (/tuJf)

69 One of the only decent things Kasich has done in Ohio is killing Ted Strickland's planned "High speed" (45 mph) Rail

Um, high speed rail is 300+ mph Jap bullet trains.
45 mph is car speeds.

So, you want to get to Cleveland *faster*?

Posted by: Bandersnatch, Opus/Bill the Cat 2016 at February 05, 2016 02:35 PM (1xUj/)

70 In my town - a state capitol - the mayor has a legal slush fund. He uses this fund for much of his daily expenses: Starbucks; lunch; flowers; automobile costs. He also uses it to stay in nice hotels when he travels on "city" business. He is a big promulgator of bringing a casino into town - a project tied up in legal wrangling. He also has proposed a rail line to connect the local college town to the Capitol downtown - it will save EIGHT minutes of time for the nonexistent riders.
Guess who the biggest donations into his slush fund are from?

Posted by: Gouverneur Morris at February 05, 2016 02:35 PM (dQJCS)

71 Posted by: Ignoramus at February 05, 2016 02:27 PM (r1fLd)

In DiBlasio NYC got the mayor it deserved.

In NYC DiBlasio got the constituents he deserved.

Posted by: *Mikey NTH - Feel the Bern! Bernie-Fro's have arrived at the Outrage Outlet! at February 05, 2016 02:36 PM (hLRSq)

72 Meanwhile the working class rides city buses, which are relatively cost-effective.
Posted by: Ignoramus at February 05, 2016 02:34 PM (r1fLd)

Probably because they can't AFFORD to live by the metro/subway/whatever station.

Posted by: Lea at February 05, 2016 02:36 PM (lIU4e)

73 Gabe doing good work on the 2A in the sidebar. Bravo, Gabe! Now get them to fix the NR's website.

Posted by: rebel flounder at February 05, 2016 02:36 PM (3dOE/)

74 56 One of the only decent things Kasich has done in Ohio is killing Ted Strickland's planned "High speed" (45 mph) Rail line between Cleveland and Cincy.
Posted by: buzzion at February 05, 2016 02:32 PM (zt+N6)

NOOOOOOOO! You said something nice about Kasich! Someone get a digital Rope!

*joke*

I figure there has to be SOMETHING about the guy that does not suck balls.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 05, 2016 02:36 PM (iHjB5)

75
So why isn't everyone a small-L libertarian?
Posted by: Bandersnatch, Opus/Bill the Cat 2016 at February 05, 2016 02:22 PM (1xUj/)

Because those damned, evil, fascist libertarians want to seize power and then LEAVE US ALONE!!!!!

*clutches pearls*

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at February 05, 2016 02:36 PM (j4wsR)

76
I mis spoke or mis wrote. They were the old Wells Fargo Stage Coach lines from the 1850s.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at February 05, 2016 02:36 PM (iQIUe)

77 Limiting the number of things they are allowed to do before we start looking for rope and good sturdy lampposts would work better.
Posted by: redbanzai at February 05, 2016 02:33 PM (OrI3J)

Yeah, we gave you a system that did that.

You guys didn't keep it.

Enjoy the whirlwind, oh ye who have sown the wind.

Posted by: The Authors of the Constitution at February 05, 2016 02:36 PM (s5o+q)

78 Oh yeah, light rail. The left's favorite opportunity for graft, as well as lecturing us how wrong cars are, how we should be moving towards "urbanism", and basically how there's too many people and everyone who doesn't think like them should die.

Posted by: brak at February 05, 2016 02:36 PM (xwPSp)

79 So, you want to get to Cleveland *faster*?

Or, out of. ;-)

Posted by: rickb223 at February 05, 2016 02:37 PM (KUNWw)

80 I feel that this thread cries out for a BBC talking animals video:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/hff2cyn

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 05, 2016 02:37 PM (w4NZ8)

81 OT, Playboy models never died of strokes when they didn't wear clothes.
I demand congressional action on this death-dealing practice at once.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at February 05, 2016 02:38 PM (xq1UY)

82 Did you hear I was dead broke before my pay to play foundation?
Posted by: Granny Mao at February 05, 2016 02:34 PM (FuBZa)

Did somebody say "Foundation?"

Posted by: The Mule at February 05, 2016 02:38 PM (s5o+q)

83 re 44: sort of just what Prof Glenn said:

"It would revive more of the waterfront for residential and commercial developments" said Georges Jacquemart, a principal at urban development agency BFJ Planning in New York City. "Along the waterfront there are some tourist attractions, there are parks and the ferry service and more and more people are interested in the area."

If all goes according to plan, property taxes in the area would skyrocket and could cover the light rail's $2.5 billion estimated price tag, according to Jacquemart. "The increased value of those properties by the stops would then be used to repay the street car," he said. "It's definitely a good financing mechanism."

[of course, nothing makes property more attractive than skyrocketing property taxes]

IBTimes:
http://tinyurl.com/gu6vxw2

Posted by: Satan of Berlin, Vt at February 05, 2016 02:38 PM (qSIlh)

84 It's not all graft... there are also the happy endings!

Posted by: Al Gore at February 05, 2016 02:38 PM (ckvus)

85 75

So why isn't everyone a small-L libertarian?

Posted by: Bandersnatch, Opus/Bill the Cat 2016 at February 05, 2016 02:22 PM (1xUj/)

Because those damned, evil, fascist libertarians want to seize power and then LEAVE US ALONE!!!!!

*clutches pearls*

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at February 05, 2016 02:36 PM (j4wsR)

heh.

Posted by: rebel flounder at February 05, 2016 02:38 PM (3dOE/)

86 So many comments and no

"Monorail" song?

What about us brain dead slobs?
You'll all be given cushy jobs!

Posted by: *Mikey NTH - Feel the Bern! Bernie-Fro's have arrived at the Outrage Outlet! at February 05, 2016 02:39 PM (hLRSq)

87 Why would you give them a tripling or even a quadrupling of their income before they even accomplish squat? There is no reason to give anyone of them a raise over their current base, they are amply rewarded. If you want to give them a bonus for meeting certain goals that is a completely different story.

Posted by: JackStraw at February 05, 2016 02:34 PM (/tuJf)

Because you're trying to attract a better group of people to serve in congress and the senate.

$175K is a middle manager salary in a large corporation. Each congressman is responsible for billions in spending.

We need to make the base salary good enough that doctors, business people, accountants, etc. will consider giving up their income to go to Washington.

Posted by: jwest at February 05, 2016 02:39 PM (Zs4uk)

88 60 One of the only decent things Kasich has done in Ohio is killing Ted Strickland's planned "High speed" (45 mph) Rail

Um, high speed rail is 300+ mph Jap bullet trains.
45 mph is car speeds.

Posted by: rickb223 at February 05, 2016 02:34 PM (KUNWw)

http://tinyurl.com/z5ccl98

The additional irony of dedicating federal high-speed rail funds to the 3C project is that the 3C is a very slow speed train that must share low-safety rating tracks with freight rail cars. It's average speed - the most critical component of the system even though its backers downplay its slowness - will not exceed 50 mph, according to state rail officials who have put forward a new estimate to blunt criticism that the trains slow speed won't attract the ridership its backers say is ready to ride it

Posted by: buzzion at February 05, 2016 02:39 PM (zt+N6)

89 Source of my mayor's slush fund donations: Developers; construction firms; other Democrats; Chamber of Commerce types; restaurateurs. But you all knew that already.

Posted by: Gouverneur Morris at February 05, 2016 02:40 PM (dQJCS)

90
Grandmas in a Conga line -- the future of our country?!!!

https://goo.gl/TZNs9g

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at February 05, 2016 02:40 PM (iQIUe)

91 So, you want to get to Cleveland *faster*?
Posted by: Bandersnatch, Opus/Bill the Cat 2016 at February 05, 2016 02:35 PM (1xUj/)

Do you want to go FASTER?

Raise your hands if you want to go FASTER!!!

Posted by: Evil Carny running the carnival ride at February 05, 2016 02:41 PM (s5o+q)

92 "But more importantly, property along the rail lines, and especially near the stations, becomes more valuable in most cases."

For you movie buffs, this was impetus behind the plot of Police Academy 6: City Under Siege.

Posted by: Cantankerous at February 05, 2016 02:41 PM (326rv)

93 I feel that this thread cries out for a BBC talking animals video:

The "move", "no, you move!" segment is pretty risque for a Fenelon.

Posted by: Bandersnatch, Opus/Bill the Cat 2016 at February 05, 2016 02:41 PM (1xUj/)

94 Um, high speed rail is 300+ mph Jap bullet trains.
45 mph is car speeds.

But if you have to stop at a station every 10 miles...

Posted by: Bertram Cabot Jr. at February 05, 2016 02:41 PM (FkBIv)

95 It's average speed - the most critical component of the system even though its backers downplay its slowness - will not exceed 50 mph, according to state rail officials who have put forward a new estimate to blunt criticism that the trains slow speed won't attract the ridership its backers say is ready to ride it

Nothing says "boondoggle" like "high speed train" with tracks next to a freeway where the cars are going 20 mph faster.

Posted by: rickb223 at February 05, 2016 02:42 PM (KUNWw)

96
Oh yeah, light rail. The left's favorite opportunity for graft, as well as lecturing us how wrong cars are, how we should be moving towards "urbanism", and basically how there's too many people and everyone who doesn't think like them should die.

Posted by: brak at February 05, 2016 02:36 PM (xwPSp)

You forgot the fact that light rail is also a subsidy for leftist douchebags working in crowded, crime-ridden urban hellholes who want to buy affordable homes in conservative, suburban/rural areas.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at February 05, 2016 02:42 PM (j4wsR)

97 So, you want to get to Cleveland *faster*?

Jeeze, it's like you've never been to Ohio. All roads lead to Clumbus. Roads to other places have to go through Clumbus to get there. Akron to Canton? Pay Clumbus. You can only leave Cleveland if you're going to Clumbus.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at February 05, 2016 02:42 PM (xq1UY)

98 Source of my mayor's slush fund donations: Developers; construction firms; other Democrats; Chamber of Commerce types; restaurateurs. But you all knew that already.

Posted by: Gouverneur Morris at February 05, 2016 02:40 PM (dQJCS)

"From each according to his ability; to each according to his need."

Posted by: Mayor DiBlasio at February 05, 2016 02:42 PM (hLRSq)

99 Saw recently some stories that ridership in L.A. is very, very down. No politician is sure what to do about that.

Posted by: HH at February 05, 2016 02:42 PM (DrCtv)

100 Nothing says "boondoggle" like "high speed train" with tracks next to a freeway where the cars are going 20 mph faster.

Or between two cities with their own airports.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy at February 05, 2016 02:43 PM (LUgeY)

101 Posted by: Gouverneur Morris at February 05, 2016 02:35 PM (dQJCS)
You're in Lansing too?

Posted by: hogmartin at February 05, 2016 02:43 PM (NA5LM)

102 "In DiBlasio NYC got the mayor it deserved.

We'll see. DiBlasio's win was a bit of a fluke. Lesbian Christine Quinn, a relative moderate, was supposed to win. Anthony Weiner's running turned it into a circus and Quinn got ignored. DiBlasio won with narrow but well-organized support (kinda like how the Bolsheviks did it). DiBlasio will get challenged, and the likely result will be a new mayor.

I've often thought that NYC mayoral history could prefigure what we're seeing on the national scene. e.g., Obama combines the worst of Lindsay, Dinkins and Beame. So we may be getting ready for a Giuliani.

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 05, 2016 02:43 PM (r1fLd)

103 Nood. It's really groovy too.

Posted by: johnd01 at February 05, 2016 02:43 PM (ukNFU)

104 Saw recently some stories that ridership in L.A. is very, very down. No politician is sure what to do about that.

Get people back to work?
No need to ride when you have no place to go.

Duh.

Posted by: rickb223 at February 05, 2016 02:43 PM (KUNWw)

105 Posted by: Gouverneur Morris at February 05, 2016 02:35 PM (dQJCS)
You're in Lansing too?

Posted by: hogmartin at February 05, 2016 02:43 PM (NA5LM)

Not anymore.

Posted by: *Mikey NTH - Feel the Bern! Bernie-Fro's have arrived at the Outrage Outlet! at February 05, 2016 02:44 PM (hLRSq)

106 OK, I was insufficiently explicit.

FenolonSpoke posted a video of birds in delicto flagrante. A birds and bees video without any bees.

A gorram avian sex tape!

You should be ashamed of yourselves, Horde, for corrupting our sweet Fenelon.

Posted by: Bandersnatch, Opus/Bill the Cat 2016 at February 05, 2016 02:45 PM (1xUj/)

107 >>We need to make the base salary good enough that doctors, business people, accountants, etc. will consider giving up their income to go to Washington.

We have doctors and accountants and business people (middle management and above) in DC. Many, like a Darryl Issa type, were multimillionaire entrepreneurs long before they went to DC. And if we are only giving bonuses for what we on this side of he aisle consider good practices why would liberals support it? They like spending money we don't have.

And these guys get much more in benefits than just their salary, most notably a ridiculously generous pension plan that is pretty much unparalleled in the private sector. Serve a few terms in the Senate and you've a nice pile of money to live on for the rest of your life and free healthcare.

Besides, you still have to figure a way to beat incumbency. I don't care how much money you have or how much the job paid, the only way someone like Ted Kennedy was leaving the Senate was in a casket.

Posted by: JackStraw at February 05, 2016 02:45 PM (/tuJf)

108 If you want to know more about public choice theory, look up James Buchanan (the economist, not the president) and read any of his book. The Calculus of Consent (written with Gordon Tullock) is particularly good.

Posted by: redbanzai at February 05, 2016 02:45 PM (OrI3J)

109 Not anymore.
Posted by: *Mikey NTH - Feel the Bern! Bernie-Fro's have arrived at the Outrage Outlet! at February 05, 2016 02:44 PM (hLRSq)

Well Lamai Thai is gone and Emil's closed in October so I guess there's no incentive to stick around

Posted by: hogmartin at February 05, 2016 02:45 PM (NA5LM)

110
"But more importantly, property along the rail lines, and especially near the stations, becomes more valuable in most cases."

For you movie buffs, this was impetus behind the plot of Police Academy 6: City Under Siege.

Posted by: Cantankerous at February 05, 2016 02:41 PM (326rv)

That was also the underlying issue behind one of the deadliest gunfights in the Old West, the Mussel Slough Tragedy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mussel_Slough_Tragedy

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at February 05, 2016 02:46 PM (j4wsR)

111 You're in Lansing too?

Posted by: hogmartin at February 05, 2016 02:43 PM (NA5LM)

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Posted by: Gouverneur Morris at February 05, 2016 02:46 PM (dQJCS)

112 Well Lamai Thai is gone and Emil's closed in October so I guess there's no incentive to stick around

Posted by: hogmartin at February 05, 2016 02:45 PM (NA5LM)

Leo's Lodge is still around.

Posted by: *Mikey NTH - Feel the Bern! Bernie-Fro's have arrived at the Outrage Outlet! at February 05, 2016 02:47 PM (hLRSq)

113 Limiting the number of things they are allowed to do before we start looking for rope and good sturdy lampposts would work better.

Well, by definition an actual budget would limit the number of things they are allowed to do.

Mind you, I'd love to see Greg Abbott's amendments passed, too.

Also, links by definition are unbroken strings.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at February 05, 2016 02:47 PM (2lndx)

114 100 Nothing says "boondoggle" like "high speed train" with tracks next to a freeway where the cars are going 20 mph faster.

Or between two cities with their own airports.
Posted by: BackwardsBoy at February 05, 2016 02:43 PM (LUgeY)
===========
No one has jobs to go to, that's why.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at February 05, 2016 02:47 PM (iQIUe)

115 I once rode behind Norfolk and Western 611 from NW Ohio to...Clumbus.
611 is easily capable of 100 MPH. The track parallels US 23. The cars looked like they were standing still. Of course, a lot of them were pulling over and stopping.

No I do not want the government to pay for that. But we did get in early.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at February 05, 2016 02:47 PM (xq1UY)

116 The left's new darlings are these imaginary "high-speed" rails which are just another way of saying "Big Dig" without conjuring up images of people dying from falling debris, bribes, over budgeting graft and corruption.

Whenever you hear some tool say "high-speed rail" you should be reaching for your revolver.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 05, 2016 02:48 PM (ej1L0)

117 That video of Hills dancing is disturbing.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at February 05, 2016 02:48 PM (iQIUe)

118
https://vine.co/v/iJVrLtmE79H

Look at all that bleached hair.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at February 05, 2016 02:49 PM (iQIUe)

119 Graft is nice and all .... but power is even more seductive to many. And power that lies wholly outside of any reason the most.

Politics - come for the graft but stay for the raw power of tyranny.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at February 05, 2016 02:49 PM (zc3Db)

120 So, the highway tunnel project in Seattle that is now 2+ years behind schedule was caused by a broken tunnel machine. How do you break a tunneling machine? You run into a 24" steel pipe someone knows about but forgot to say anything about and then burn out bearings trying to grind your way through. They needed to sink a big pit down to fix the machine. This cost more money and extended contracts.
Weird how sabotage can fill everyone's pocket. Know how you do that? Insurance, probably from AIG.
And the lawyers? WoooooHooooooooo!

Posted by: Man from Wazzustan at February 05, 2016 02:50 PM (FtrY1)

121 That "develop the waterfront as a park with expensive housing" is what they did in Portland. And it helped me understand something Hayek talked about. Freedom is messy. Planned economies are not. If you look at early pictures of the waterfront in Portland, it's a mess, all sorts of businesses and housing. If you look at new pictures, it looks like an architect's drawing. More freedom then, less now.

Posted by: notsothoreau at February 05, 2016 02:51 PM (5HBd1)

122 "Many, like a Darryl Issa type, were multimillionaire entrepreneurs long before they went to DC."

That's part of the problem.

The only people who can afford to run for office are those without any money (got nothing to lose) or multi-millionaires. People in the sweet spot of who you would want as a representative can't give up their home, their kid's education and everything else to run off to Washington.

Hopefully, Trump will get elected. He no doubt knows that you get the talent you pay for.

Posted by: jwest at February 05, 2016 02:52 PM (Zs4uk)

123 That was a fine article, and within that very fine article were many very fine supporting articles written by some very smart people.

The obvious conclusion from so much very fine intellectual hard work is obvious. The government is too big and interferes too much in areas that should be outside of government's jurisdiction.

Like the guy in Tunisia, the fruit cart guy who set himself on fire; which set North Africa on fire, which set the entire continent of Africa on fire, I'm about ready to stand on the sidelines and applaud the next guy who sets himself on fire in protest.

Posted by: Vilhelm Gregers at February 05, 2016 02:52 PM (PijGQ)

124 A friend of mine has a masters degree in transportation and spent many years working for the railroads. When Houston was debating putting in light rail he pointed out a few things. The first is that light rail works best in vertical cities with high population densities so that enough patrons can walk to each terminal to make ridership reasonable. Houston is a horizontal city with low population density - so rail would never work here. He also did the calculations on expense and showed it would be cheaper to buy every person who would ever ride the train a new limousine than to build the rail line. He was right of course - but we still got the rail line - at a cost of billions of dollars. Empty trains run up and down the tracks - taking nobody from nowhere to nowhere else - interrupting traffic every 20 minutes or so; and occasionally running over the unwary driver in a car - who gets blamed for the accident. Of course exactly none of those accidents would have happened if we hadn't had the trains. Plenty of graft in that line though.

Posted by: An Observation at February 05, 2016 02:54 PM (1jyp6)

125 "Whenever you hear some tool say 'high-speed rail' you should be reaching for your revolver."

The public sector managerial class in today's America are collectively incapable of safely and efficiently operating even _low speed_ rail.

Posted by: torquewrench at February 05, 2016 02:54 PM (noWW6)

126 What about us brain dead slobs?
You'll all be given cushy jobs!
----------------

Sounds like more of a Shelbyville idea...

Posted by: BunkerInTheBurbs at February 05, 2016 02:57 PM (kXzR8)

127 "He also did the calculations on expense and showed it would be cheaper
to buy every person who would ever ride the train a new limousine than
to build the rail line. He was right of course - but we still got the
rail line - at a cost of billions of dollars."

Same deal with the new subway spur in Scum Scamfrisco.

Over a billion dollars per mile.

Impossible to make the thing pencil out as a sensible public expenditure.

Nancy Pelosi's district, of course. Project originated under Pelosi as Speaker. It was still in the early stages when the GOP took back the House. It could have been defunded and killed at that point. But the Vichy Republicans aren't about getting rid of preposterous pork. They're about collaborating with the Democrat machine for more of it.

Posted by: torquewrench at February 05, 2016 02:58 PM (noWW6)

128 Well, by definition an actual budget would limit the number of things they are allowed to do.

Mind you, I'd love to see Greg Abbott's amendments passed, too.

Also, links by definition are unbroken strings.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at February 05, 2016 02:47 PM (2lndx)

Two simple reforms that would help a lot, but therefore will never be enacted:

1) All bills must be read, aloud and in full, in a normal speaking cadence (i.e. not by a speed-reader), in each house of Congress, with a quorum in attendance during the reading, before it can be voted on. That is, the "deemed as read" nonsense has to go. If you're going to pass the damn thing, you're going to sit there and listen to it. All of it.

This leads to

2) All bills must address a single, strictly limited subject. None of this omnibus, 1000-page bill BS.

Posted by: filbert at February 05, 2016 02:59 PM (s5o+q)

129 It's worse in Calif where they have 90 mile tracks in the middle of the desert going no where. The epa killed any time of agra business in the central valley.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at February 05, 2016 02:59 PM (iQIUe)

130 The public sector managerial class in today's America are collectively incapable of safely and efficiently operating even _low speed_ rail.
Posted by: torquewrench at February 05, 2016 02:54 PM (noWW6)

See: Amtrak.

Posted by: filbert at February 05, 2016 03:00 PM (s5o+q)

131 This Syad hearing is lame. The alibi wit is acting like a rock star and the def expert shouldnt even have been called. This isnt a trial where a jury needs to have specialized evidence explained to them. smh.

He had 2.5 hours unaccounted for where he could have left, killed her, and returned.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at February 05, 2016 03:05 PM (iQIUe)

132 OK... I am hanging out here where there is no auto play video of Hillary every time I reload the page.

Posted by: redbanzai at February 05, 2016 03:20 PM (OrI3J)

133 Same deal with the new subway spur in Scum Scamfrisco.

Should do very well the next time the San Andreas fault decides to clear its throat. Nothing like having a tunnel collapse on you to make your day.

Posted by: An Observation at February 05, 2016 03:27 PM (1jyp6)

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