Posted on 09/20/2010 4:54:07 AM PDT by Willie Green
Few elected officials have ever inherited a public works project that promised as many benefits as the proposed Hudson River commuter train tunnel is supposed to deliver to the constituents of Gov. Chris Christie.
Advocates for the project, which would add a second pair of tracks between New Jersey and Manhattan, say it will reduce traffic congestion and pollution, shorten commuting times, increase suburban property values and create 6,000 construction jobs. Before Mr. Christie became New Jersey’s governor in January, the state’s elected officials had already lined up $6 billion for the project from agencies outside the state.
Despite everything that the project appeared to have going for it, Mr. Christie ordered a review this month of the tunnel’s cost, a move that many supporters of the project worry could signal its undoing.
During the 30-day review, digging will continue on the New Jersey side of the river, but no new work will begin. “If I can’t pay for it, we’ll have to consider other options,” Mr. Christie said last week.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
All of these projects have ot be paid for. A hundred million for the tunnel is a hundren million that the taxpayers no longer have to spend on THEIR priorities. Have you ever read Bastiat’s “What is seen and not seen?” That explains my point of view on government projects quite well.
We understand in your commie utopia money grows on trees. In the real world you have to pay for it and Christie is doing the adult thing. If it were viable private corps would be lining up to invest rather than Gummit boondoggles.
Pray for America
I think it very wise of the governor to take a hard look at this project with an eye toward preventing another accounting/cost-overrun fiasco like Boston’s “Big Dig”.
Christie’s concept is radical: if the state can’t afford it, the state can’t do it. It would be real nice to continue with the tunnel project but the state can’t afford it. Until New Jersey gets its budget in order and cuts back in other areas, it won’t go forward or will do so on a slower pace. This is common sense. I don’t know why we don’t hear all 50 governors saying this more often. I don’t know why we don’t hear our Congressmen saying it more often.
Nothing is stopping YOU from digging it. Go ahead. You’ll be a Hero. A veritable Ford, Edison of our times.
Christie was on the radio this morning and explained this whole mess. He said every dollar over 8 billion is on the taxpayers of NJ and so far he has over run estimates of 2 to 5 billion with no end in site.
He said he could not in any conscience sign the taxpayers up for such an open ended liability like that.
Good for him. We need this man to head the U.S. Treasury
Until New Jersey gets its budget in order and cuts back in other areas, it won’t go forward or will do so on a slower pace. This is common sense.
No it isn't.
Delays will only increase future construction costs. not lower them.
Christie would be better off saving money by cutting red tape and streamlining tunnel construction to finish ahead of schedule and under budget.
Good for him. We need this man to head the U.S. Treasury
No we don't.
The man is a bureaucrat who is increasing costs with more red tape.
He should be cutting through the red tape to help bring the project in ahead of schedule and under budget.
Why not combine them? The answer is obvious - power and control. Think how many favors can be handed to union workers by the Feds if they can do two major projects instead of one! What a disgrace.
Go Gov Christie! Make them earn it.
Yea, he's a nut alright. Imagine the craziness of actually having funding secured and an ROI analysis in place before the Goobermint starts a project.
It's madness....madness I say!
Nah he should kill the boondoggle altogether. Big “public works” projects like this and the “big dig” exist primarily to transfer wealth from the taxpayers to the favored supporters of whatever the current regime is.
I live here, so stop with the nonsense. You are not fooling anyone.
Claude Frédéric Bastiat (30 June 1801 – 24 December 1850)
I've reached the conclusion that all those ivory-tower political-economists are total boobs and morons.
The nonpartisan theories of Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915) are much more insightful. His incredible genius is still not fully understood or appreciated. He was way ahead of his time.
I live here, so stop with the nonsense. You are not fooling anyone.
So tell us all about your daily commute between NJ and Manhatten...
And why it is soooooo much easier, quicker and less expensive to drive and park your car in NYC than to take the train/subway/ferry like millions of other New York commuters do.
Sadly Willie, there appears to be no hope for you if you confuse economics with project management. Further are you implying that Bastiat was in some sense "partisan?" As you noted he died in 1850, so he could hardly be partisan in anything going on today.
What does that have to do with NJ being bankrupt and not being able to afford any of this? Where is the money coming from?
Further are you implying that Bastiat was in some sense "partisan?"
No, Bastiat was basicly a mere merchant/trader/middleman who viewed the relation between capital and labor as irreconcilable.
Taylor's genius is that he reconciles those differences in a manner that is mutually beneficial.
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