Budget Winner & Loser - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

MTI · #1 01-27-2010, 03:05 PM

Fast Choo-Choos Win Support

President Barack Obama will give $8 billion in economic stimulus money to 13 U.S. rail corridors tomorrow, mostly for high-speed passenger service, an administration official said.

Obama will announce the funds, the biggest single U.S. investment in high-speed rail, in Tampa, Florida, according to the official, who declined to be identified in advance of the event.

The money will benefit 31 states, including a small portion of the $8 billion that will go to improvements of existing rail lines, the official said. Florida, California and New York are among states that applied for money.

No Bucks, No Buck Rogers - Moon Base Not In Budget

When the White House releases its budget proposal Monday, there will be no money for the Constellation program that was to return humans to the moon by 2020. The Ares I rocket that was to replace the space shuttle to ferry humans to space will be gone, along with money for the Ares V cargo rocket that was to launch the fuel and supplies needed to return to the moon. There will be no lunar landers, no moon bases.

Pooka · #2 01-27-2010, 05:14 PM

If you are going to move large amount of anything over any distance the best way to do it is by rail.

The Interstate highway system was seen by Eisenhower as a addition to the Department of Defense. I would bet planners in the DOD are looking at this with future defense planning in mind.

During WW II the Union Pacific used some of the largest Locomotives ever built, at about 1,123,000 pounds, to move war materials from one side of the US to the other. The Nazi defense officals refulsed to think that the US could build such a super-machine that would haul so much freight so fast no matter what their spys told them. The UP nicknamed the Locomotives 'The Big Boy'.

Making the world smaller; making reaction times less... Sounds good to me.