Bay Area Will Get to “Pony Up” for Tunnel in High Speed Rail Goof

Posted by Tina

Libby’s probably turning cartwheels about now…soon she will be allowed the privilege of paying extra bridge taxes. The latest news out of the Bay Area is that the new High Speed Rail System will usher in a new round of higher bridge toll taxes to cover the costs of a connecting tunnel. Seems they need $2.5 billion more that wasn’t included in the train deal…oooops!

I wonder how many more ooops’s will befall this project, and drive the costs up into the stratosphere, over the next thirty of forty years. Yes, it will take that long to complete this carnival ride for the croissant and latte set.

I remember the promises that were made when politicians in the Bay Area decided we needed to build BART. Out in towns like Livermore and Dublin it was sold as something fabulous that would make travel carefree, get all of those commuter cars off the freeways, and clean up the air. Livermore and Dublin got bus service for more than two decades. Very few people needed or used this service but we got to pay a higher sales tax on our purchases anyway and the tax is still in force. The problem with such tax hikes is that they are never temporary because the trains don’t pay for themselves. The amount budgeted to build them is always way to low and maintenance projections always fail to cover the cost so they have to be subsidized. Meanwhile, those who benefit the most are the few locals around the Bay who use it to avoid parking problems in the city…the freeways are more clogged than ever.

The Governor’s plan to raise state taxes is all about champagne projects and the lavish perks that Democrats love, including lining their own greasy pockets. They will tell us it is “for the children” or it’s for “fire and police” but that is frankly a bunch of hooey. This project is the best example I can imagine to illustrate how little they care about education in California and how little they care about those who must produce revenues to the state.

Revenues to the California General Fund in 2011: income taxes, $54 billion; sales taxes, $27.4 billion; and corporate taxes, $9.2 billion. That is down from former highs according to Breitbart by about 22%.

The first thing you’d do if your own personal revenue dropped by 22% is buy a big expensive boat and sail off to Tahiti for several years while your unpaid bills pile up, right?

Politicians keep telling us they have to cut services when all of us know they just don’t bother to manage the people’s money well. What do they care…they didn’t earn it…they didn’t take a risk to make it.

In my world we don’t get to buy a big expensive yacht and sail off to Tahiti unless we have more than enough to buy food, pay our monthly bills, send our kids to college, fund our own pensions, purchase all the required insurances, can maintain our home and vehicles, can afford to hire a manager to handle our affairs while we are away, and have a sizable rainy day fund set aside for emergencies. That kind of fiscal discipline should be the requirement at the state as well. Buying toys and fun should be last thing on anyone’s list but especially on the state’s because they are managing other people’s money.

The “bare necessities” is all the State of California (the working people) can afford! The bare necessities don’t include champagne perks and frills in any department. The bare necessities may mean layoffs and salary freezes…possibly for decades! In times of trouble some departments have to be consolidated and others will just have to go. That’s what you do when it’s time to tighten the belt..you don’t sacrifice education and fire protection and then go build a third of a bullet train! The Bullet train is for the privileged few. It is nothing but an ego trip dreamed up by out of touch rich progressives with nothing better to do. Ordinary hard working Californians will be picking up the tab for this toy for decades…cartwheels or no.