It Became Necessary to Destroy the Railroad...
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...in order to save it?
Just as investment bankers on the Upper East Side should not have Mississippians paying for their subway lines, so too should Mississippians not have New Yorkers paying for their scenic casino access roads. This project is not only not properly a federal concern, but certainly has no relation to either Katrina relief or — give me a break — the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. This is pork, and is far worse than the Bridge to Nowhere: at least there was no perfectly functional bridge in Alaska that was going to be torn down to build a new bridge two blocks away.
It's quite simple really: When the principle of fiscal federalism is violated and everybody starts paying for everything, then everybody overpays. The Politics of Pull knows no credit limit.
More thoughts from Porkbusters, Heritage Policy Blog, Rolling Doughnut.
POST SCRIPT #1: And why would it not surprise me if it turned out that there will likely be some eminent domain condemnations as part of this rail relocation cum casino highway project?
POST SCRIPT #2: Senator Thad Cochran was, you may recall, named by Time Magazine as one of America's Ten Best Senators for just this very reason — the ability to spend your tax dollars secretly. Talk about "accuracy in media."
Mississippi's two U.S. senators included $700 million in an emergency war spending bill to relocate a Gulf Coast rail line that has already been rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina at a cost of at least $250 million.I, for one, am neither generous nor happy.
Republican Sens. Trent Lott and Thad Cochran, who have the backing of their state's economic development agencies and tourism industry, say the CSX freight line must be moved to save it from the next hurricane and to protect Mississippi's growing coastal population from rail accidents. But critics of the measure call it a gift to coastal developers and the casino industry that would be paid for with money carved out of tight Katrina relief funds and piggybacked onto funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"It is ludicrous for the Senate to spend $700 million to destroy and relocate a rail line that is in perfect working order, particularly when it recently underwent a $250 million repair," said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who is planning to challenge the funding when the $106.5 billion war spending bill reaches the Senate floor. "American taxpayers are generous and are happy to restore damaged property, but it is wrong for senators to turn this tragedy into a giveaway for economic developers."
Just as investment bankers on the Upper East Side should not have Mississippians paying for their subway lines, so too should Mississippians not have New Yorkers paying for their scenic casino access roads. This project is not only not properly a federal concern, but certainly has no relation to either Katrina relief or — give me a break — the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. This is pork, and is far worse than the Bridge to Nowhere: at least there was no perfectly functional bridge in Alaska that was going to be torn down to build a new bridge two blocks away.
It's quite simple really: When the principle of fiscal federalism is violated and everybody starts paying for everything, then everybody overpays. The Politics of Pull knows no credit limit.
More thoughts from Porkbusters, Heritage Policy Blog, Rolling Doughnut.
POST SCRIPT #1: And why would it not surprise me if it turned out that there will likely be some eminent domain condemnations as part of this rail relocation cum casino highway project?
POST SCRIPT #2: Senator Thad Cochran was, you may recall, named by Time Magazine as one of America's Ten Best Senators for just this very reason — the ability to spend your tax dollars secretly. Talk about "accuracy in media."
Posted by Kip on
20 April 2006
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