“Teabag Governor Says “F-YOU” to the Governed” of the Day: FL’s Rick Scott
With so many vying for the title of “Most Stupid Teabag Governor” there is a perpetual traffic jam between Chris Christie, Scott, Walker, Rick Perry, and Florida’s Rick Scott. Florida Gov. Rick Scott’ decision to rejected high speed rail, jobs, and $28 million a year put him out in front temporarily a few weeks ago, but now we find that Scott’s teabag-onomics will keep him in the running for years to come.
by Mark Sumner
Of all the strange things Republicans hate, the GOP’s siderodromophobia may be the hardest to explain. Spend tens of billions on highways? Yeah! Spend a fraction of that amount on trains? Boo! Maybe it’s just that they like seeing their names on all those highway construction signs. Or maybe it’s that modern trains are clean and efficient — two things that Republicans can’t stand.
In any case, three weeks ago Florida Gov. Rick Scott said no thanks to $2.4 billion that had been awarded to his state for a high speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando. He claimed that he did so because he worried that tax payers could be stuck paying the money back if the line failed… which is odd, since he’d been told that would not happen.
But Scott licked the envelope and mailed back that giant check — giving away thousands of jobs in the process.
Which could mean that Floridians won’t be too keen on the just completed study that says not only would they not have been on the hook for big payments, the rail line would have been profitable from day one.
Three weeks after Gov. Rick Scott put the brakes on high-speed rail, the Florida Department of Transportation on Wednesday released a study showing the line connecting Tampa to Orlando would have had a $10.2 million operating surplus in 2015, its first year of operation. The study showed the line would have had a $28.6 million surplus in its 10th year.
So, Rick Scott turned down not only $2.4 billion in direct stimulus for the state, but another $150 million over the next ten years. Plus Floridians miss out on a piece of infrastructure which would have been handy for them, and would have lured additional tourists to the state (which just might be important in Florida).
The problem, of course, is that every projection of rail surpluses over the last 30 years has been wrong. Indeed, most of the newly built rail systems during that time period have ended up running in the red.
Of course, Joe ‘merican would be unable to name a profitable roadway that has been constructed in the last 50 years.
Can YOU name one?
LOL!!!! Yeah… Can YOU? *mind boggled*
That’s the point, Joe. We don’t measure roads by “profit.”
The developers who build along those roads, and the homeowners and businesses who live and work on those roads, would say all the roads are profitable.
Geezer — the entire point of this post is that Gov. Scott turned down a profitable rail system. I’m pointing out that projections of rail profit have invariably been wrong. Your response? It doesn’t matter if the system will be in the red or in the black — just build it!
By the way, Jason — do it.
If the guarantee mentioned in the post is true, then Florida would profit by building it, whether the line ran an operating profit or not. I have no idea of whether such a line could be profitable, because I don’t know what the air traffic between Tampa and Orlando is like. It doesn’t strike me as a particularly useful project, either. But when you run a state, your job is to run that state, not make a statement about political principles.
If Rick Scott had principles, he’d be doing jail time for his monumental criminality vis a vis Medicare fraud.
“The developers who build along those roads, and the homeowners and businesses who live and work on those roads, would say all the roads are profitable.”
But the taxpayers who foot the bill for the associated infrastructure costs would not.
If spinoff development is your the standard, take a look at the incredible development at every stop along the DC Metro line’s suburban stations. Works the same way, minus the auto traffic.
The point is that if we have a profitable rail line, it’s a bonus. Just like if we have a profitable bridge or stretch of highway it’s a bonus.
But having the infrastructure to transport Floridians, tourists and cargo between Orlando and a large port city more efficiently is a boon to the state, the travelers and anyone that has to breathe in Florida.
But the entire point of the post is that the line would run at a profit — and now you are saying that it doesn’t matter if the line would run at a profit. Make up your minds!
What’s this “your minds”? I have only one. My point is separate from whatever Jason was saying. My point is that Rick Scott is turning down the money not because it will cost him or his state anything, but to score political points with the Tea Party set. People like you, apparently.
Fortunately President Lincoln didn’t have to respond to these small-minded teajadis, otherwise the Transcontinental Railroad would have never come into existence.
Which points out the most depressing thing about these teajadis, Republicans in general and a few Democrats — the complete lack of vision. Or, more like, the complete protective crouch. Not the kind of posture of a great nation, I think.