tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post6165465066418682163..comments2023-11-03T06:35:48.003-05:00Comments on Shark and Shepherd: Return of the Shark: Walker hits the ground runningRick Esenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07280070509167910367noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-17458467325962529622010-11-11T16:42:39.875-06:002010-11-11T16:42:39.875-06:00We won't talk about short-sights, except to re...We won't talk about short-sights, except to remark that you'd make a fine quarter-to-quarter CEO.<br /><br />You might have noticed that the Budget Committee will be chaired by a Wisconsin guy.<br /><br />Don't bet against Ryan any more than you bet against Walker. It's a good way to lose.Dad29https://www.blogger.com/profile/08554276286736923821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-6271392617902019052010-11-11T11:58:04.067-06:002010-11-11T11:58:04.067-06:00But you know what, Dad? Budget committees contain...But you know what, Dad? Budget committees contain representatives from places like Illinois and New York and California and Florida. In fact those four states are each rather populous and have a lot of representatives. So if allocated funds get snapped up by other states, because we don't want to build high-speed rail here, how likely do you think the Illinois and New York and California and Florida Congressional delegations will be to say, oh, that's OK, we'll give you that money back, for Wisconsin roads, not rail, and we'll cancel our own high-speed rail projects? <br /><br />Like that is going to happen, ever.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-77086413169166811322010-11-11T10:26:24.584-06:002010-11-11T10:26:24.584-06:00Budget committees in the House of Representatives ...<i>Budget committees in the House of Representatives can't just "rescission" appropriations that have already been made</i><br /><br />Even conceding your point, they CAN delete any further funding from the next budget.<br /><br />And (as recently proven) they CAN re-direct allotted but un-spent funds to OTHER projects. Ask Tom Barrett and Scott Walker about busses.Dad29https://www.blogger.com/profile/08554276286736923821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-83088104278137559422010-11-11T10:08:52.492-06:002010-11-11T10:08:52.492-06:00No, ATV and GT: There's never any reason to j...No, ATV and GT: There's never any reason to justify endless socialist road construction and re-construction, as people need to be able to get whereever they want to go, as quickly as possible, as this is Natural Law and their God-given right. "You'll pay to get what you really want" only applies to goods and services that are controlled by large corporations in the general marketplace, not that provided by big corporations who survive on government contracts. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2009/09/07/story14.html" rel="nofollow">Zignego</a>, for example, thrives on big contracts and stimulus money, then <a href="http://www.wisdc.org/index.php?module=wisdc.websiteforms&cmd=searchadvanced&filter=+Search+&employer=Zignego+Co&qty=100" rel="nofollow">donates a fraction</a>to conservative candidates. Who can forget all the criticism by conservatives of Zignego's role in absorbing government pork?Display Namehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15842340986220388709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-1597920818452927392010-11-11T09:15:31.823-06:002010-11-11T09:15:31.823-06:00Frédéric Bastiat predicted the natural, totally-no...<a href="http://sharkandshepherd.blogspot.com/2010/10/more-bad-economics.html" rel="nofollow">Frédéric Bastiat</a> predicted the natural, totally-not-subsidized evolution to the car-centric ideal in his 1838 treatise, <i>Laissez-faire et la graisse banlieusard gueulard Américaine dans son habitat naturel</i>.gnarlytrombonenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-7670901503334951632010-11-10T21:54:13.665-06:002010-11-10T21:54:13.665-06:00And YOU assume that a responsible budget committee...<i>And YOU assume that a responsible budget committee in the House will not simply rescission the money.</i><br />Wait, this is Congress we're talking about, right? So that's a joke?Jay Bullockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18303687624670151530noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-7293676541440112882010-11-10T21:35:07.610-06:002010-11-10T21:35:07.610-06:00"Advocates are almost never willing to addres..."Advocates are almost never willing to address the real economic issues in proposed systems"<br /><br />Do advocates of freeways ever address their significant economic issues, especially the externalities?AnotherTosaVoterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16530969681712342705noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-41606095800417156592010-11-10T21:31:55.590-06:002010-11-10T21:31:55.590-06:00Dad, let me explain how legislation works in the U...Dad, let me explain how legislation works in the United States Congress. For a bill to become law, it must be passed by both Houses, and signed into law by the President (unless he vetoes it, and his veto is overriden by both Houses). Budget committees in the House of Representatives can't just "rescission" appropriations that have already been made.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-53189595304050081352010-11-10T21:00:04.213-06:002010-11-10T21:00:04.213-06:00and this grant was a good way to get some of that ...<i>and this grant was a good way to get some of that other 14% back put some people here to work, attract businesses that would otherwise set up elsewhere</i><br /><br />And YOU assume that a responsible budget committee in the House will not simply rescission the money.<br /><br />Foolish assumption.Dad29https://www.blogger.com/profile/08554276286736923821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-10861637538622150552010-11-10T20:58:48.266-06:002010-11-10T20:58:48.266-06:00If you've ever driven that long tedious stretc...<i>If you've ever driven that long tedious stretch</i><br /><br />Several times, round-trip, on MY schedule. And as a bonus, I got to my destination, which was NOT downtown StL, on my schedule, too!!<br /><br /><i>The jobs, the money, the improved infrastructure will go to Illinois, or New York. Or Florida, or California</i><br /><br />All 20 full-time choochoo station jobs.<br /><br />All the maintenance and subsidization expenses.<br /><br />All the really-neato new tracks and ties!<br /><br />What a deal!<br /><br />And don't bet that Florida will take that deal. California will be BK 20 years before the choochoo is complete, and its successors, Nevafornia and Orecal, will decline the honors, too. Or maybe it will be Mexico, in which case the druglords will have another transportation modus.<br /><br />New York. Who cares?<br /><br />As to Illinois: they need more liabilities. I understand there's a Mafia bank that will help with those.Dad29https://www.blogger.com/profile/08554276286736923821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-24993035411382326172010-11-10T19:11:39.981-06:002010-11-10T19:11:39.981-06:00We don't hear much about why it makes sense to...<i>We don't hear much about why it makes sense to spend over $ 800 million dollars on a train that few people can be expected to ride. It is, we hear, "free money" since it comes from the federal government.</i><br />That money is Wisconsin taxpayers' money: We currently get back something like 86 cents of every dollar we send to Washington, and this grant was a good way to get some of that other 14% back put some people here to work, attract businesses that would otherwise set up elsewhere.<br /><br />That Walker wants to let that money--our money--go to Illinois or New York or some other state gives me no confidence that he can be any kind of effective voice for this state on the national stage.Jay Bullockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18303687624670151530noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-20924131765099107252010-11-10T18:08:14.510-06:002010-11-10T18:08:14.510-06:00"Rail is an outmoded technology." That&..."Rail is an outmoded technology." That's why China, the world's fastest-growing economy, plans to double its high-speed rail network, already the world's largest, by 2020, and spend $300 billion doing so. Everyone knows the Chinese are so . . . retrograde. They should come here to Wisconsin and study technology from our new Gov. He'll teach 'em.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-32182114689492204492010-11-10T17:57:48.227-06:002010-11-10T17:57:48.227-06:00No, it won't (be flushed down the toilet). If...No, it won't (be flushed down the toilet). If we don't spend the money here Pat Quinn is happy to take it and spend it in Illinois, to build a high-speed train from Chicago to St. Louis. If you've ever driven that long tedious stretch of corn fields you might concur in the need. Or Andrew Cuomo will be happy to take it and spend it on a high-speed train from New York to Montreal and Toronto. The jobs, the money, the improved infrastructure will go to Illinois, or New York. Or Florida, or California. Wisconsin will lose jobs, will lose possible state-of-the-art infrastructure. And money. We'll have to refund the Treasury what has been spent to date, and pay damages for breach of contract.<br /><br />But maybe, just maybe, there will be a political advantage to the Republicans by disadvantaging the State of Wisconsin. Scott Walker may be able to score a political point against Obama. Who cares about actual benefit or detriment to the State of Wisconsin -- as long as there is a political benefit to the Republicans? Destroy Obama in 2012, no matter what it costs the country or the State. That is the goal. Right, Dad?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-63512187919400001802010-11-10T17:35:11.086-06:002010-11-10T17:35:11.086-06:00You ought to know about semi-honest posts, and I&#...You ought to know about semi-honest posts, and I'll leave dissecting your blather to others--if they want to bother.<br /><br /><i>So Walker's choice is to allow the construction of a federally-funded piece of infrastructure here or flush nearly a billion dollars down the toilet to spite the "liberal elite" bogeyman his partisans have constructed.</i><br /><br />Perhaps it WILL be 'flushed down the toilet.' It will also be a campaign advertisement in the successful effort to make Obama the second one-term (D) in 50 years.Dad29https://www.blogger.com/profile/08554276286736923821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-35885707952071452552010-11-10T13:24:20.396-06:002010-11-10T13:24:20.396-06:00This neatly illustrates the two dishonest argument...This neatly illustrates the two dishonest arguments Walker's partisans use to justify what he's doing. The first is that this has anything to do with fiscal responsibility. The second is that this has anything to do with the relative economic merits of rail.<br /><br />Neither Scott Walker nor anyone else ever suggested giving this money back to the treasury so whether or not it's "free" is irrelevant. It's going to be spent and Walker's doing his best to ensure that it's not spent here.<br /><br />The money was a competitively-awarded federal grant for commuter rail. Walker at least should have known that there was no realistic chance it could ever be spent on anything else. If we'd said we wanted to spend the money on roads, we'd never have gotten the grant in the first place. The time to discuss the relative economic benefits of rail was before the money was appropriated. It's entirely irrelevant now as the money will be spent, on rail, somewhere.<br /><br />So Walker's choice is to allow the construction of a federally-funded piece of infrastructure here or flush nearly a billion dollars down the toilet to spite the "liberal elite" bogeyman his partisans have constructed. At least he'll have Rick Esenberg to keep making pathetic excuses for it.Pete Gruetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05572467982814679508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-2640817058180407892010-11-10T12:56:07.365-06:002010-11-10T12:56:07.365-06:00That Scott Walker is refusing to play this game su...<i>That Scott Walker is refusing to play this game suggests that he may be a different type of Governor.</i><br /><br />Wow. Koop Aid, anyone? <br /><br />Different, of course, when you exclude every other newly-elected GOP governor in any state that was awarded money for a rail project.<br /><br />And only when you don't like the results do economic projections become "magical.". How about projections from Walker that cutting taxes will improve the state's ability to fill a $3 billion budget hole? I guess that's more like voodoo.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-69402614424891208232010-11-10T10:29:07.014-06:002010-11-10T10:29:07.014-06:00The Milwaukee to Madison train was planned for the...The Milwaukee to Madison train was planned for the liberal elite and Walker is right to bury it now. <br /><br />Old timers remember that the light rail systems in Wisconsin when they grew up out lived there usefulness and were put out of everyones misery. <br /><br />The liberal elite wants everyone to pay for their perks and will do and say anything to get it. <br /><br />Walker is doing the right thing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-33756569216007908262010-11-10T10:01:30.422-06:002010-11-10T10:01:30.422-06:00I will spend $100 million and throw 4700 people ou...I will spend $100 million and throw 4700 people out of work rather than obligate the State to spend $750,000 a year on subsidizing this boondoggle. It's the principle of the thing. I'm saving money! Why am I reminded of when my wife comes home with five shopping bags and says, "Honey, you'll never guess how much money I saved today!"?<br /><br />Jee-zus. What we can look forward to now. Were math classes any part of Scott Walker's 2.9 GPA at Marquette? Could someone give him a class in remedial math?<br /><br />The cost to the State of maintaining the high-speed train, even if it does turn out to be $7.5 million a year rather than $750,000, as is far more likely, is miniscule in relation to Wisconsin's total transportation budget. And one shouldn't look at the train from Milwaukee to Madison in isolation, although there are a lot of folks coming home from Badger games to Brookfield who probably shouldn't be driving and who are more likely to take a train than the Badger Bus. If you view it as an extension of the Hiawatha to Chicago, which is amply used, and a first step toward high-speed rail to the Twin Cities, it makes a lot of sense. Airfare to Minneapolis is really expensive, and the drive is long and tiring. A high-speed train to the Twin Cities would be fantastic, and would be well used.<br /><br />But, no, thanks to Scott "2.9" Walker, we're not going to have high-speed rail. We're more like North Dakota than New York or California. <br /><br />And, if he has his druthers, it's going to stay that way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com