Just hanging around, waiting for federal dollars. That'll be just what we need. Oops. Didn't get the high-speed rail money we were hoping for. It's pretty much a fool's dream anyway, some say:
Obama and Biden look to Amtrak as precedent, but since its founding in 1971, the nation's passenger rail system has sucked up almost $35 billion in subsidies and, says The Washington Post's Robert J. Samuelson, "a typical trip is subsidized by about $50." About 140 million Americans shlep to work every day, while Amtrak carries just 78,000 passengers. There's no reason to think that high-speed rail will pump up those numbers, though there's every reason to believe its costs will grow and grow.
Oops. Didn't get the Race to the Top funding, either:
Krista Stockman, spokeswoman for Fort Wayne Community Schools, said this will not affect any of the changes they have made. “While we are disappointed, it doesn't change anything we are doing. We have said all along we were making the changes with or without the money. We knew there was no guarantee that we would get the money, so we will proceed as planned. We are not going to undo anything we have done, and we are still moving forward with the 11 lead schools.”
Well, what else can they say? Since they didn't give us the money, we're just gonna scrap all this upheaval and pretend it didn't happen?
At least we'll have that $15 billion jobs bill going for us. "The bill is a clear, focused effort at putting Americans back to work," said house Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and know a member of Congress wouldn't lie to us.
