Well your new Ohio Governor is off to a great start. I plan on keeping tabs on all the ways he has duped our fellow chatters. It is going to be a fun next four years. Looks like he is interested in giving his pals a big raise curtsy of us Ohio taxpayers.

http://www.plunderbund.com/2011/01/07/governor-elect-kasich-says-he-needs-to-pay-his-top-staff-more-because-of-the-private-sector-even-though-they-didnt-come-from-there/

I plan on following our new leader on Ohio act Check. So far he killed the so called high speed rail, which a couple of other states gladly accepted Ohio's share, and so much for his promise of transparency with all the hiring done privately with closed interviews.

Here is Ohio fact check.

http://www.politifact.com/personalities/john-kasich/

Your partisanship has blinded you to half the truth. While Kasich is paying his staffers more than the previous administration, he also has hired less staff, thus saving the state of Ohio $300K overall in the process.
http://search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A0oG7mdDbTNNlQ4Af7dXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE1Y3A2dmdkBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDNwRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA1ZJUDA0NF8xODc-/SIG=14f3ta1bk/EXP=1295244739/**http%3a//www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/01/13/copy/kasich-cuts-office-payroll-by-300000.html%3fsid=101

Wow..a left wing blog and a site funded by the Plain Dealer. I'm sure they're objective. Color me impressed.

The Equalizer;640517 wrote:Wow..a left wing blog and a site funded by the Plain Dealer. I'm sure they're objective. Color me impressed.

I will never understand that claim against the fact checking sites. If you think what they say is incorrect then explain why. Don't just say they're biased because they say things that you may not like. Prove it.

Bigdogg;640345 wrote:I plan on following our new leader on Ohio act Check. So far he killed the so called high speed rail,...

Because it wasn't needed and a waste of taxpayer dollars. My understanding is Kasich requested that the money be redirected to true and much needed infrastructure improvements in Ohio but the Feds - in accordance with BHO's absurd and impractical obsession with high speed rail, denied the request.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Bigdogg;640345 wrote:Well your new Ohio Governor is off to a great start. I plan on keeping tabs on all the ways he has duped our fellow chatters. It is going to be a fun next four years.
http://www.politifact.com/personalities/john-kasich/

Actually the first two years will not be fun ....... because it is time for tough medicine and a reality check. The days of fat public employee wage and benefit packages are over, along with the multi-thousand excess employees to begin with. The big boys who have to come in and make the cuts are always slammed, when in fact past liberal spending and liberal democrat policies (public sector unionization) are to solely to blame.

Actually, the only fun aspect to this will be watching the public sector largess get whacked, and unions squirm their ass off for the next two years amidst the necessary cuts.

believer;640602 wrote:Because it wasn't needed and a waste of taxpayer dollars. My understanding is Kasich requested that the money be redirected to true and much needed infrastructure improvements in Ohio but the Feds - in accordance with BHO's absurd and impractical obsession with high speed rail, denied the request.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

If you define "high speed" as 39 miles per hour, then you are correct.

I think a significant number of Ohioans would support a true "high speed" rail, that would travel at say, 150 mph at a minimum with maybe 250 mph top speed, then it would sell. 39 MPH is akin to resurrecting the horse and buggy industry...and the Left goes apeshit that Kasich said, "thanks, but no thanks".

BGFalcons82;640686 wrote:If you define "high speed" as 39 miles per hour, then you are correct.

I think a significant number of Ohioans would support a true "high speed" rail, that would travel at say, 150 mph at a minimum with maybe 250 mph top speed, then it would sell. 39 MPH is akin to resurrecting the horse and buggy industry...and the Left goes apeshit that Kasich said, "thanks, but no thanks".

Not only that, the plan would admittedly run on a $17M year deficit (meaning $34M in real life because we know how more expenses, costs, losses develop from budget estimates. We simply cannot afford it. Money does not grow on trees.

Hopefully Kasich follows this path ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nceBCFEiivQ&feature=related

BGFalcons82;640686 wrote:If you define "high speed" as 39 miles per hour, then you are correct.

I think a significant number of Ohioans would support a true "high speed" rail, that would travel at say, 150 mph at a minimum with maybe 250 mph top speed, then it would sell. 39 MPH is akin to resurrecting the horse and buggy industry...and the Left goes apeshit that Kasich said, "thanks, but no thanks".

The train would actually have been about 50 mph average speed, not 39.

But that still isn't what I'd call high speed. I would really support an actual high speed rail system in Ohio though.

I Wear Pants;640789 wrote:But that still isn't what I'd call high speed. I would really support an actual high speed rail system in Ohio though.

As would I if they could figure out a way to create a "profit" from building and running the rail lines. I know....evil "profits" are the scourge of our society.

Japan is full of these things and they appear very beneficial for them. But we are stuck with 1920's technology with forecasted debt for the rails as far as the eye can see. Kasich was 100% correct in abandoning this fiscal nightmare and yet, there are those that lambaste him for "giving" our share to some other state. FYI....there is NO SHARE TO GIVE. There is no real money...only the borrowed and promised kind. Heaven save the fools who cannot see what is in front of them.

I don't think profiting directly from the train is as important as the other benefits they bring.

I Wear Pants;640855 wrote:I don't think profiting directly from the train is as important as the other benefits they bring.

And that is the problem with anything the government wants to do, isn't it?

Well the problem is figuring out which programs and ideas will bring those ancillary benefits that are greater than the cost.

I Wear Pants;640876 wrote:Well the problem is figuring out which programs and ideas will bring those ancillary benefits that are greater than the cost.

I guess I missed the newsflash that said the USA and Ohio is awash in cash and needs to find giveaway programs. I woulda swore we were about $8,000,000,000 in debt in the state and $14,000,000,000,000 in debt nationally. So we need to find ways to spend fictional money or find ways to cut programs/departments/dependencies in order to save our country and state?

I Wear Pants;640876 wrote:Well the problem is figuring out which programs and ideas will bring those ancillary benefits that are greater than the cost.

I think a true high speed rail in Ohio would make a profit and provide those other benefits. It's just the lack of political will and the high start up costs. I don't think there is a politician in this country that is a forward thinker. Everything is what will it cost me today.

It's around 270 miles from the tip of the state to Cleveland. If I could hop on a train and cover that distance in 3 hours or less, I think that would make a pretty big profit. Think about it. If you drive, that's around 5 hours, not counting any stops. Your only other choice would be to fly and by the time you factor in security and everything else, a train would beat the airlines at that distance.

Not to mention the fringe benefits of less car traffic, lower pollution, etc.

BGFalcons82;640888 wrote:I guess I missed the newsflash that said the USA and Ohio is awash in cash and needs to find giveaway programs. I woulda swore we were about $8,000,000,000 in debt in the state and $14,000,000,000,000 in debt nationally. So we need to find ways to spend fictional money or find ways to cut programs/departments/dependencies in order to save our country and state?

Bigger picture dude. Can't just stop any forward thinking plans because we're in bad shape now.

I can't see a scenario where an actual high speed rail system doesn't bring a benefit to our state.

If people could go from Cleveland to Columbus or Cincy or Toledo quickly with a train I think it'd bring a tremendous boost to those areas.

BGFalcons82;640888 wrote:I guess I missed the newsflash that said the USA and Ohio is awash in cash and needs to find giveaway programs. I woulda swore we were about $8,000,000,000 in debt in the state and $14,000,000,000,000 in debt nationally. So we need to find ways to spend fictional money or find ways to cut programs/departments/dependencies in order to save our country and state?

This country is always going to be short on cash. If we want to wait until we somehow have a huge surplus to invest in these infrastructures, we will be waiting till Jesus arrives.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather they spend that 10 billion dollars on a true honest to god high speed rail system then blow it on the wasteful crap they've been spending our tax money on.

tk421;640894 wrote:This country is always going to be short on cash. If we want to wait until we somehow have a huge surplus to invest in these infrastructures, we will be waiting till Jesus arrives.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather they spend that 10 billion dollars on a true honest to god high speed rail system then blow it on the wasteful crap they've been spending our tax money on.

It's the old "good debt" vs. "bad debt" argument. Good debt would be what you describe...invest $10,000,000,000 to create a high speed rail system that would pay for itself in a certain defined time period. Kind of like the turnpike idea. A home mortgage, a car loan and college loans are private types of "good debt". Oops, wait....collegiate loans are no longer private.

Bad debt would be what Obama attempted to shove down our throat....here's $400,000,000 to start a program that will fail miserably, but you can create a couple thousand jobs. Or the "cash for clunkers" program which cost taxpayers about $5,000,000,000 to advance car demand a few months and destroy drivable cars and not stimulate squat.

Like I wrote earlier, I could get behind true high speed rail....however 39 or 49 MPH rail line is a worthless investment. If an encyclopedia salesmen came to your door, would you even let him in? That's what Obama is selling...encyclopedias in our internet world.

Coming from a City and Regional Planning major at Ohio State who spends a lot of time talking about public transportation. I am all for high-speed rail, and about 100% of the professors in the program are, but I was definitely not for that plan.

In my opinion, unless that train is going 150+, it's useless. But then again, Ohio would need to reinvest in downtown cities for them to be useless. No one wants to get off of a train in the ghetto or have to take a cab thirty minutes once you get off the train, you'd much rather drive. If you could get the stations in relevant points (i.e. downtown entertainment districts like the arena districts in Columbus, Toledo, Cleveland, etc.) and you actually put points of interest there (Toledo I'm looking at you--stupid fuckers who sold your soul to the automobile and moved the casino to Rossford instead of downtown where it makes sense) then it'd be wildly successful. Of course, it would take a monumental effort to favor density and an urbanism, instead of more and more inefficient suburbia. Do you know how much an interstate intersection costs tax payers? ~$250,000,000. Shove that figure you your fiscally responsible ass and think about it.

My point: it's awfully expensive to live like Americans have been and it can't last. Don't excoriate the high-speed train ideas when your expressways cost many times more.

That said, I'm a gigantic John Kasich fan and hope he returns the state to a balanced budget so in the near future we can spend money on things we need.

believer;640602 wrote:Because it wasn't needed and a waste of taxpayer dollars. My understanding is Kasich requested that the money be redirected to true and much needed infrastructure improvements in Ohio but the Feds - in accordance with BHO's absurd and impractical obsession with high speed rail, denied the request.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

It has nothing to do with who is in charge, ever since the concept of a federal grant was created you have to spend the money exactly as it is allotted or you lose it; there's very little wiggle room (especially when other states are willing to use said money for what it was allotted for) It would have been denied regardless of who asked for the change or who was in charge of changing it.

As everyone mentioned, an actual high-speed rail would have been best, and that sort of a change (asking for a train that didn't suck) probably would have been accepted since it's still in the same general idea of that grant.

Little Danny;640503 wrote:Your partisanship has blinded you to half the truth. While Kasich is paying his staffers more than the previous administration, he also has hired less staff, thus saving the state of Ohio $300K overall in the process.
http://search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A0oG7mdDbTNNlQ4Af7dXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE1Y3A2dmdkBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDNwRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA1ZJUDA0NF8xODc-/SIG=14f3ta1bk/EXP=1295244739/**http%3a//www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/01/13/copy/kasich-cuts-office-payroll-by-300000.html%3fsid=101

Yeah, the OP should have known about that one. It is a good start... the best option would have been to cut the positions and keep the pay raises down to save more, but it's better than nothing. Money saved is always good.

Kasich is evil. Hopefully Eric Fuller or one of the other violence practicing liberals will come here and take him out for us.

Little Danny;640503 wrote:Your partisanship has blinded you to half the truth. While Kasich is paying his staffers more than the previous administration, he also has hired less staff, thus saving the state of Ohio $300K overall in the process.
http://search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A0oG7mdDbTNNlQ4Af7dXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE1Y3A2dmdkBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDNwRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA1ZJUDA0NF8xODc-/SIG=14f3ta1bk/EXP=1295244739/**http%3a//www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/01/13/copy/kasich-cuts-office-payroll-by-300000.html%3fsid=101

I don't think so. He is making up the difference by eliminating positions and slashing non administrative pay. Same old theme for people like him, put the burden on the middle class while your friends get more.

http://www.cleveland.com/schultz/index.ssf/2011/01/kasichs_pay_priorities_are_all.html


Also interesting that he was not able to find a single person to appoint with any diversity on his cabinet.

http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2011/01/kasich_says_he_went_hunting_fo.html

Bigdogg;641642 wrote:

Also interesting that he was not able to find a single person to appoint with any diversity on his cabinet.

http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2011/01/kasich_says_he_went_hunting_fo.html

Heard this on the radio. Good for him for hiring the best and not bowing to racial groups and hiring just to look good in their eyes.

BGFalcons82;640686 wrote:If you define "high speed" as 39 miles per hour, then you are correct.

I think a significant number of Ohioans would support a true "high speed" rail, that would travel at say, 150 mph at a minimum with maybe 250 mph top speed, then it would sell. 39 MPH is akin to resurrecting the horse and buggy industry...and the Left goes apeshit that Kasich said, "thanks, but no thanks".

I see you only read the headlines in the papers regarding the so called "high speed" rail. I agree that nobody will ride a train that slow. However, just like you always do on just about every issue, there is more to the story. The proposal also included upgrading the fright rail system and a host of a lot of other things that would have been very beneficial to Ohio's economy. I won't bother explaining them any further, but I would encourage you to be better informed on the issues. A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Here is the proposal.
http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Rail/Programs/passenger/Pages/OhioHubOverview.aspx