Once again, democrats dance on the dead

Spread the love

Loading

amtrak crash

 

There’s something very wrong with liberals. Very, very wrong. They love to take political advantage of the dead, whether it’s Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Benghazi or the Amtrak dead.

The bodies of the dead in the Amtrak crash weren’t cold- and perhaps hadn’t even been recovered yet- when the left began using the Amtrak tragedy to hammer Republicans, blaming budget cuts for the crash. You see, it was budget cuts that made the train go twice as fast as it was supposed to be going. Predictably, the NY Times jumped in with both feet:

Such spending now represents about 1.5 percent of total economic activity, down from about 1.8 percent on average from 1993 through 2008. It’s at its lowest level in at least 22 years. (A hat-tip to Joe Weisenthal, of Business Insider, who calculated this statistic in 2013, after the collapse of a bridge near Seattle.)

Did you see it? Did you see that history ended in 2008? We’re going to get to that in a minute, because history did not end in 2008 and then start up again once the GOP took the House and Senate in 2012. Let’s call it “The Time of Missing History.”

Megyn Kelly was ripping angry at democrats’ exploitation of the horror:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiwqOdX7Gjk[/youtube]

As we’ve noted, according to the left history stopped in 2009 and then began again in 2012. Well, let’s crank up the Wayback Machine once again and find that lost history. Back in 2009 there was something called a democrat controlled Congress and something else called a democrat President. And back in 2009 there was something called a “stimulus” passed by that democrat Congress and democrat President. It came to about $800 billion or so.

At the moment, democrats can’t complete a sentence without the word “infrastructure.” OK, let’s check out how important that was to them back in The Time of Missing History. democrats promised a “historic” investment in infrastructure:

DEMOCRATS, Republicans chant, are irresponsible big spenders. But in the run-up to the mid-terms, the Democrats ought to have had one example of spending at its best: investment in infrastructure. When they passed the $787 billion stimulus bill in February 2009, they promised an historic investment in roads, bridges and rail. It would put Americans to work quickly and raise productivity in the long term, a Keynesian kick with benefits for years to come. But this ambitious plan has had middling results. Infrastructure is still in need of investment; unemployment in the construction sector was 17.2% in September. Barack Obama is touting a new $50 billion infrastructure proposal, but as the mid-terms loom, it is probably too late.

The stimulus bill’s spending on infrastructure may have been doomed to mediocrity from the start. First, and most important, a relatively small share of the bill was actually devoted to infrastructure. Mr Obama called the bill “the largest new investment in our nation’s infrastructure since Eisenhower built an interstate highway system in the 1950s.” But even on the broadest definition of the term, infrastructure got $150 billion, under a fifth of the total. Just $64 billion, or 8% of the total, went to roads, public transport, rail, bridges, aviation and wastewater systems.

By 2011, the actual stimulus infrastructure was only 3%.

 

Economists on both sides of the aisles argue that one reason why the stimulus failed is that it wasn’t designed properly. Stanford University’s John Taylor, for instance, has argued that although much money was spent, very little stimulus money was spent in the form of actual government purchase. In a paper with he co-authored with John Cogan, Taylor finds that, out of the total $682 billion package, federal infrastructure spending was just $0.9 billion in 2009 and $1.5 billion through the first half of 2010—or less than four-tenths of 1 percent. Taylor and Cogan also noted that most of the money generated by tax cuts was saved, not spent, and that the money that went to state governments was spent to reduce the states’ reliance on borrowing and on other “non-purchase” items, such as transfer payments, subsidies, and interest payments. In other words, the additional money that went to states and taxpayers didn’t change a thing. Taylor claims that a better-designed stimulus would have probably been more effective.

Of that money, grants of $1.3 billion were allocated to Amtrak. $8 billion was designated for “Grants for capital investments in designated high-speed rail corridors” and another $8.4 billion for “Public transit improvements and infrastructure investments.”

So what happened? Where did the money go? Why wasn’t this section of track improved? Why wasn’t the safety equipment that it is alleged “could have prevented” this crash installed?

Back in The Time of Missing History Barack Obama was obsessed with high speed rail and not safety.

Amtrak may also have itself contributed to this mess:

Amtrak managers have improperly interfered with oversight of the railroad’s $1.3 billion in economic stimulus funding, according to an independent report by a former federal prosecutor.

The report commissioned by Amtrak’s former inspector general says the railroad’s lawyers and financial managers interfered with the internal watchdog’s ability to get stimulus-related documents and the $5 million Congress appropriated for stimulus oversight.

The cherry on this dog poop cake? Joe Biden was in charge of overseeing stimulus spending.

You’re going to hear frequently about “Positive Train Control” and how it might have prevented the Amtrak crash if not for Republicans. The fact is, it has been planned and paid for:

How much will it cost?

The estimated cost for developing, installing and deploying PTC on the Metrolink system is $210.9 million. Metrolink secured full funding from local, state and federal sources. Approximately 34 grants were secured.

Installation is well under way:

According to the January/February issue of Amtrak Ink, a publication for employees, Amtrak had equipped about 400 miles of track with the advanced system. That included the New England Line, from Boston to New Haven; the New York Line, from New Brunswick, N.J., to Trenton; and the Mid-Atlantic Line, from Perryville, Md., to Wilmington, Del. The next step is another 1,200 miles of track, including the rest of the Northeast Corridor.

Investigators said Wednesday that they would seek to determine why the stretch of track where the accident occurred was not in service yet. But for safety advocates, accidents on passenger trains involving excessive speeds in recent years clearly demonstrate the need.

The bottom line is that speeding was the cause of this wreck. Period.

The safety equipment is being installed now. It simply had not reached that section of track as yet. That is unfortunate but blaming the GOP for this crash is a canard. It is reminiscent of Obama and Susan Rice blaming the Benghazi attacks on a video. It is reminiscent of Hillary Clinton standing over the bodies of the Benghazi dead and promising to bring the video maker to justice. democrats’ continued abuse of the dead for cheap political gain is breathtaking.

It is despicable.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
20 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Why wasn’t the safety equipment that it is alleged “could have prevented” this crash installed?

Priorities, man, priorities.
(100% Republican) Utah got a small smidgeon of so-called stimulus money and added more of its own money to install all the same safety equipment those back east (in Liberal states and District) couldn’t be bothered with.
Now Utah has super high winds and really dumb drivers, so there still might be crashes, but none will be caused by a train conductor ignoring speed limits.

Edited to add from Kevin Williamson:

“…..[D]id Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman ever miss a nickel of his $350,000-a-year salary? No. Did Amtrak fail to pay employee bonuses? No—in fact, it paid bonuses to people who weren’t even eligible for them, and then refused to rescind them once it was pointed out that they were unauthorized.”

https://www.amtrakoig.gov/sites/default/files/reports/oig-a-2015-009.pdf
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/418396/what-amtrak-spends-its-money-kevin-d-williamson

I’m going to bet that there has been more money spent on that Dimocrat high speed rail system in Gayifornia than on the rails in Pennsylvania.

@Redteam:

Amtrak is just another example of how D.C. can spend the money they take from everyone all across the nation for the benefit of the few. Most of Amtrak’s lines are in the northeast, and most Americans have never even seen an Amtrak train. Yet we have, over the years, poured billions of $$ into a company that is a major fail. If Amtrak was not propped up by federal tax payer dollars, it would fold in six months. It’s just another insatiable hydra like the Post Office.

Why are we pouring all those billions of $$ into a failed system? Because, because………D.C. How else could all those taxpayer paid useless bureaucrats get to work?

High speed rail is like the proverbial toll road. “Oh, yeah, we’re gonna build you a nice new toll road to traverse over and when it is paid for, the tolls will go down because all we will need is money to maintain the road.” Just one problem, once the road is paid for, and people are used to paying X dollars for tolls, the tolls never go down. The Turner Turnpike and the Will Rogers Turnpike are too great examples of how the beast is never quite full.

If the northeasterners want Amtrak, let THEM pay for Amtrak by privatizing it. Sink or swim, but not on the taxpayer’s dollar.

Democrats never let a good catastrophe go without incident!! WE asked for more money and didn’t get it so that’s the reason these people died!! Give me a break!! We got Moonbeam out here in California wasting billions on a train to nowhere while he does nothing about water creation!!

Awesome Doc liberals are using Benghazi!!! For political gain
Liberals have done 16 separate investigations
And yes liberals in fact have forced you to tag so many of your own posts Benghazi !!!
Why won’t those damn liberals let the dead rest in peace like the family of the murdered Ambassador has repeatedly asked
Those liberals and Benghazi !!! Tsk tsk tsk shameful

@Common Sense:

Moonbeam

paired with Obozo. What a team!

Lies and Smoke Screens…I heard a newscaster speak about it today…very matter of fact…”well when it’s your time…it’s your time…” very cold.

Yet everyone on a daily basis is suppose to cry for the poor gays…and lesbians…and ‘oppressed’ black thugs…and on and on

This, this they use for political gain…

The Navy Officer on his way home on leave, someone the people in his community looked up to…and the others…

Sidetrack: The Obsma hypocrisy, I was told he has chastised parents lately….for sending their kids to ‘private’ schools…I guess Obama is the ONLY one who is “allowed” to send HIS kids to ‘private’ schools. Smh

So, let’s see… a cut in spending today caused a train wreck yesterday. Yeah, that makes sense.

What was needed was a huge drag chute made from $100 bills and bails of cash lined up along the tracks to cushion the impact when someone high-balling around the curves goes twice the designated speed and hops the tracks.

I heard some speaking of how much Amtrak deserved all the additional money because ridership is up 50%. Now, I’m no economic genius, but wouldn’t increased ridership mean LESS money is needed from the taxpayer? In lib-think, I guess not.

Like no matter what turn the weather takes, it indicates proof of global warming, EVERYTHING that happens proves (in liberal world) that more money needs to be taken from the earners and handed over to bureaucrats to waste, scam and steal. Can you smell and agenda here?

@Redteam: And Gov. Moonbeam and DiFi’s Hubby’s project is only in the planning stages! Imagine that!

For some politicians, greed has no boundaries.

@Smorgasbord: The pols are on the take but don’t forget the slimy business people who rake it in from these deals and then make kickbacks later to their “friends” in high places.

I understand the rubber/glue game but blaming Dems for exploiting Benghazi takes it to an entirely new low.

@RJ:

but blaming Dems for exploiting Benghazi takes it to an entirely new low.

blaming? Dims? Benghazi? Really? Very few admins kill their own ambassadors. Kinda like LBJ killing JFK. Stay out of their way when they are on a power trip.

@Aguila1952: #11
The story was about politicians, and that is what I was commenting on. The world is full of greedy people who only care about themselves. I think MOST of the rich are in this category. They donate a bunch of money to BOTH parties so that THEY win no matter who wins the election.

@Smorgasbord: Been wondering where you’ve been.

@another vet: #15
I have moved, and am getting settled in. I also don’t usually comment if someone else has said what I want to say. It’s nice to be missed.

@RJ: You make absolutely no sense whatsoever. This is not about “Dems exploiting Benghazi” or whatever the hell that means! It is about the facts and people died while they could have been protected. Ma Clinton was at the helm and did diddly squat to help, even if it was an arms deal gone bad.

@Smorgasbord: Ok, ok. Geez. Take a breath. I was only commenting that pols are only one piece of the corruption pie, that is all.