0
A Habit of Wrecking Things
Posted by Timothy Smith
on
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
in
budget,
economy,
financial markets,
government,
health care,
politics,
public transportation,
rationing,
train wreck
Most everyone has heard or read about the tragic wreck that happened on the Washington, D.C., area Metro Transit Red Line earlier this week. Let me say straight up that I'm not trying to make light of this event but it does provide a vivid example of how government runs things.
Public transportation, light rail in particular, is being promoted by some groups and politicians as an answer to traffic headaches in many metropolitan areas. However, reality met with the law of unintended consequences earlier this week. The dangers lurking in these outdated, overused cars in use by the DC Metro Transit were well known by the authorities. So why wasn't action taken to help prevent a disaster like the one on Monday? A glaring, disturbing pattern, year after year, is a primary culprit. The pattern of insufficient funding for the upkeep of the Metro Transit cars. In other words, caring for the rail system was RATIONED because public funding was routinely cut. The Light Rail Myth
We are told it will cost, for example, 300 million dollars to build a light rail system but extreme environmentalists and politicians often forget about those pesky little things called maintenance, operating expenses, and depreciation. Why should they care? Unlike in the business world, Congress will just raise taxes or ask the Federal Reserve to print more money if it turns out to be an ill-conceived plan.
One could also consider the congressional oversight of the mortgage and financial markets another train wreck that resulted in the market meltdown of the past couple of years. The federal government demanded that banks and lending institutions make bad loans even though many had warned again and again that a financial markets and housing crash would ensue. A Completely Preventable Crisis
I suggest that the Metro Transit tragedy is also a preview of what ObamaCare would be like. As the population continues to increase, and the incentives for innovation are obliterated by a national or socialized health care system, funding will be a perpetual concern for politicians. Which line will get the needed maintenance? Why spend needed money on repairing older models (senior citizens) or defective cars (people)? Rationing of care will become urgent as ObamaCare slides into an unsustainable bottomless pit of despair. Kiss Your Access Goodbye
Unfortunately, Monday's tragedy was not the first nor will it be the last disaster coming down the line from Washington, D.C. How many more train wrecks, literally and figuratively, must we endure before realizing that public funding of industry will always, uh, jump the tracks?
|
National Transportation Safety Board officials said the system failed to heed a 2006 warning to upgrade or eliminate its oldest train cars, including the lead car of the train that slammed into another train Monday, killing nine people. Despite NTSB concerns that the 30-year-old cars couldn't withstand a crash, the officials said the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority didn't act.--from the Wall Street Journal article linked to above.
Public transportation, light rail in particular, is being promoted by some groups and politicians as an answer to traffic headaches in many metropolitan areas. However, reality met with the law of unintended consequences earlier this week. The dangers lurking in these outdated, overused cars in use by the DC Metro Transit were well known by the authorities. So why wasn't action taken to help prevent a disaster like the one on Monday? A glaring, disturbing pattern, year after year, is a primary culprit. The pattern of insufficient funding for the upkeep of the Metro Transit cars. In other words, caring for the rail system was RATIONED because public funding was routinely cut. The Light Rail Myth
We are told it will cost, for example, 300 million dollars to build a light rail system but extreme environmentalists and politicians often forget about those pesky little things called maintenance, operating expenses, and depreciation. Why should they care? Unlike in the business world, Congress will just raise taxes or ask the Federal Reserve to print more money if it turns out to be an ill-conceived plan.
One could also consider the congressional oversight of the mortgage and financial markets another train wreck that resulted in the market meltdown of the past couple of years. The federal government demanded that banks and lending institutions make bad loans even though many had warned again and again that a financial markets and housing crash would ensue. A Completely Preventable Crisis
I suggest that the Metro Transit tragedy is also a preview of what ObamaCare would be like. As the population continues to increase, and the incentives for innovation are obliterated by a national or socialized health care system, funding will be a perpetual concern for politicians. Which line will get the needed maintenance? Why spend needed money on repairing older models (senior citizens) or defective cars (people)? Rationing of care will become urgent as ObamaCare slides into an unsustainable bottomless pit of despair. Kiss Your Access Goodbye
Unfortunately, Monday's tragedy was not the first nor will it be the last disaster coming down the line from Washington, D.C. How many more train wrecks, literally and figuratively, must we endure before realizing that public funding of industry will always, uh, jump the tracks?
|
Post a Comment