In his never-ending quest to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he doesn’t understand how the world works outside of his trust-fund/ governor’s mansion bubble, Governor Dayton this week sent a letter to federal bureaucrats complaining that railroads aren’t doing enough to transport grain and other crops from field to market.
Like the snotty third grader who sits in the front row desk by choice, Dayton acted the part of the tattle tale. “Oh! Oh! Teacher! Teacher! The railroads aren’t playing fair! Punish them!”
Now, if Dayton were something other than a totally disengaged, incompetent and liberal chief executive, he would understand both the science, the math, and the finances of the situation.
There is only so much capacity on a rail line. Therefore, when demand goes up, the capacity goes down.
More oil trains means less capacity, including less capacity for agricultural commodities.
Moreover, BNSF is a private, profit-seeking (gasp!) entity.
They operate their trains and manage their track capacity in a manner that maximizes shareholder value.
If that means giving priority to oil over grain, so be it.
Having said that, what is really galling and insulting to the intelligence of the average person (or below average person) is that the problem is, in large part, of the government’s making.
Frequent and dangerous oil trains are racing through densely populated areas because the governments of both Mark Dayton and Barry Obama have refused to grant permits for the building and expansion of pipelines that would reduce the need for oil trains.
Moreover, the government holds “right of way” legal rights over BNSF tracks to give under-utilized Northstar commuter trains priority over the same tracks.
Thus, a true problem solving elected official would work to expedite pipeline permits and either mothball or suspend Northstar in order to assist both the oil industry and the ag industry, two market sectors that are driving growth and prosperity, unlike the solar and electric car industries.
Instead, political hacks like Dayton fan the flames of emotional and irrational thought, pointing fingers at corporate bogeymen and “demanding” answers from them as to why they can’t defy physics and make more trains run on the tracks than the tracks can physically handle.
Now, some folks might see deeper politics at play. You see, a buddy of Barry Obama, Warren Buffet, owns BNSF Railway. Hence, some are tempted to say that the resistance to oil pipelines is really part of an effort to keep Buffet’s railroad in the black while strangling a competitor.
Now there could some merit to this, as Obama is truly America’s foremost Crony Capitalist president.
But the more likely scenario is that what we are seeing is really just another example of political arson.
The way this metaphorical arson works is that liberal politicians “set the fire” by passing or refusing to pass some law and then they run back to the scene, waving their arms, spraying the garden hose, and then pointing fingers at innocent parties, demanding that they prove they weren’t to blame.
Refuse to grant pipeline permits. Send letters and make statements blaming the railroads. Propose even more government to “solve” the problem.
The political arson construct can be applied to numerous other issues.
Take the tax inversion issue.
Obama and company do nothing to lower America’s high corporate tax rate. They do nothing to eliminate the double taxation of repatriated profits.
Set the house on fire.
Corporations do the rational thing. They go offshore.
Run around screaming “fire” and point fingers while you hold a gas can in one hand and a lighter in the other.
So why do they do this? The answer is simple. This model maximizes governmental power and control.
In this model, the politicians control the whole process from problem to “solution.”
The low information voter eats it up and the most business interests are too intimidated to stand up for themselves.
And this is one of the fundamental truths of liberals. They have no real interest in true public policy solutions. Instead, they only seek to concentrate power in their own hands.
http://anokacountywatchdog.com/email/2014/08.29.14_update.htm
Buffett at least believes in growth and is building about a hundred miles of second track through North Dakota and Montana this year to handle the increase. The CEO at Canadian Pacific thinks it’s just a passing phase. His mind doesn’t think of railroads as a growth industry (at least not in this century). Buffett is the better Capitalist because he sees an opportunity and is positioning himself to grab a large share. That is why BNSF is handling as much crude as all the other railroads combined.
Meanwhile, CP has only carried about 80% of last year’s harvest. Their potential revenue is still lying on the ground.