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SMILES AND FROWNS

The arts, pork and trains

By Jack Smiles jsmiles@psdispatch.com
Times Leader Staff Writer

Artists complained the lack of a state budget is holding up funding for the arts. They staged a mild protest with the slogan: “Imagine a world with no art.”

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Here’s my slogan: “Imagine a world with art that pays for itself.”

I hate to pick on artists, but their attitude is an example of how government creates dependency and an entitlement mentality.

Artists get dependent on taxpayer money and eventually think they are entitled to it. Granted this is our fault, but most of us will never see or even hear about the art our tax dollars pay for.

And artists do make money in the free market. Some make enough to support themselves. Some get rich.

Why should taxpayers pay for the ones that don’t or won’t?

I know why. It’s “only” $15,000,000 and colorfully painted horses brighten our world.

No pork? Please

President Obama spoke to the AFL-CIO convention on Tuesday and said this of the near $1 trillion, 1000-page economic recovery act that he and Congress pushed through in two weeks: “We acted boldly and swiftly to pass an unprecedented Economic Recovery Act. It’s a plan that didn’t include any of the usual Washington earmarks or pork-barrel spending.” After I picked myself up off the floor, I had to post the comment here.

There were more than 9,000 earmarks in the bill and more pork than the union stockyards.

A people wonder why he’s called a liar.

Taking us for a ride

Sens. Specter and Casey are bragging about $28 million in federal funding they secured for the Pennsylvania High-Speed Maglev Project, a 54-mile maglev line connecting Pittsburgh International Airport, Downtown Pittsburgh and Monroeville and Greensburg. That doubles the $22.5 million in federal funding the project has received since fiscal year 1999. So that’s $45 million in grants for the project just for studies and analysis.

The cost to build the line is estimated at $3.7 billion for the first 54 miles. Repeat: $3.7 billion for the first 54 miles.

Ah, but what’s $4 billion when we’re $3 trillion in debt?

A press release by Casey and Specter claim the project will create 2,500 construction jobs. Heck that’s only $1.6 million per job. What a deal. The press release says the line will create 57,000 related jobs. Oh really, a 54-mile line from Pittsburgh Greensburg to will create 57,000 jobs?

Pray tell how? A porter for every rider?

Funny that the Maglev Inc. website, the private part of the public-private partnership that wants to build the line, says: The $3.7 billion project is estimated to generate up to 10,000 temporary jobs and approximately 1,000 permanent jobs.

Give or take 47,000, I guess.

It is estimated that 14 million passengers per year will ride the train. I don’t know why14 million people want to go to Greenburg, but I’ll take their word for it.

I love technology and this technology is way cool. Imagine trains riding on thin air, supported by magnets and propelled by a moving electromagnetic field at 300-miles per hour. A train which passengers could simply step on and off could go from Philly to Pittsburgh faster than a flight and all that entails.

I would love to ride a train like that, but at what cost and to whom? Don’t imagine the cost of building it will be a one-time government involvement. There will be annual subsidies forever. That’s because a rail line could not charge a fare high enough to pay for running the train.