Arlington wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 8:05 amThe $4.2 is being spent with American contractors
Like Siemens? (You know, that German company headquartered in Munich?) Because so far they're the only ones winning any bids? And I'm sure when Siemens files its annual corporate income tax, it reports itself as a domestic corporation paying its "fair share" of taxes on its worldwide income, not just its U.S. operations, right? Like that big bad awful company called General Motors which is headquartered in, well, the United States - Detroit, Michigan, to be exact.
Arlington wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 8:05 amto build American assets.
So, like aircraft carriers, ballistic submarines, Interstate highways, schools, hospitals, National Park lodges, domestic water systems, fiber optic systems, runways, canals, military bases, universities, Federal buildings, Post Offices, and hydroelectric projects...basically anything in America paid for by taxpayers is an American asset. Next.
Arlington wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 8:05 amIt will quickly
Under what definition is 15 years quick?
Arlington wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 8:05 amand repeatedly
Like every single federal budget, it's repeated. And just like Amtrak it repeatedly asks for more money...
Arlington wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 8:05 amget to all kinds of American people
Shall we review Amtrak's ridership numbers again? Or its route map? Or the number of stations it serves compared to some of its competitors? I mean, sure, "all kinds of American people" but one small stretch of the Interstate Highway System serves "all kinds of people", just multiplied by a few hundreds compared to Amtrak. But, "all kinds".
Arlington wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 8:05 amand with greater multiplier than
Again, shall we look at Amtrak's ridership numbers and compare that to its competitors? My local airport - just one airport - carried 2/3rds that of the entire Amtrak system, nationwide. And that's just one airport...and doesn't account for the massive amount of freight moved through the airport. How much freight does Amtrak move again?
I guess it's a multiplier if you include decimals, and a bunch of zeros to the left.
Also, my local airport is self-funding, doesn't receive any tax dollars (other than taxes paid for by the aviation sector), and provides all the services of a local city without requiring subsidy from neighboring cities, like its own police and fire department, its own utility system, water and wastewater facilities, its own public works department...
Arlington wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 8:05 amsay, some rich guy adding to his horse farm
Or, the average Amtrak long distance sleeping car passenger or Acela first class passenger. Yeah, I feel like subsidizing the top 1%ers of rail passengers while we can't even maintain the roads that the bottom 99%ers depend on just to get to and from work - and Amtrak won't do a damn thing about that transportation
need so that we have an employed workforce generating income to support our economy.
BTW: $4.2 billion would fix a lot of potholes. AND create a lot of jobs. AND invest in American infrastructure, on American soil, using American companies, with American raw materials and American suppliers. Last time I checked, Germany doesn't export asphalt.