At Blue Oregon, former Senate candidate Steve Novick makes the case for restoring the education funding slashed by the mindless “centrists” in the Senate, and goes one further:
What are we worried about a Republican filibuster? Bring it on! Let teachers and parents and principals and economists and Governors deluge their Senators with calls begging them to do the right thing! Let these so-called “moderate” Republican Senators (and a few self-styled “moderate” Democrats) explain why hundreds of billions for banks, hundreds of billions for the war in Iraq, are just james dandy, but saving our schools from cuts, rebuilding schools first constructed in the first New Deal, helping college students facing huge increases in tuition oh, no! They’ll cave.
I’d have to agree at this point. The threat of a filibuster has to be tested or the GOP will always obstruct, delay and grandstand. Might as well get it on now while the country’s attention is focused. While delay is not desirable, it might actually save time because I’m hard pressed to believe the House is going to go along with the Senate version.
Let the nation watch, spell-bound, as Senate Republicans try to explain to the American people why they have to save our kids’ futures by letting the economic crisis decimate the public school systems.
I have always wanted to see the old fashioned style fillibuster, like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. What has been going on for decades now, is not the way a fillibuster should be done.
Nah, let ’em kill schools, then business will either have to educate workers themselves or try to run their businesses with people who can’t read, spell or add.
Hey, just kidding, that’s an Ann Outofkilter joke!
Wow, it’s obvious John is confused about how a emergency stimulus package is different than budget.
He just doesn’t understand what’s going on.
@4: Wow, it is obvious troll has no clue what he is talking about. A short term stimulus is fine – but we also need an investment in the future and that means education. Only the truly neaderthal and uneducated don’t understand that.
Also, where are we goin to retrain all those workers that need new jobs? You can’t create new jobs without any workers to fill the jobs. Only republican idiots don’t realize that.
Oh, and Obama on the stimulus package: 70% agree and only 25% don’t
Congressional republicans: 20% agree and 58% don’t.
Republicans have picked another loser – being obstructionists in the face of the worst depression since the 1930’s. The do-nothing party is withering away at the vine.
WHAT JOBS???? TRAINING STUDENTS FOR WHAT JOBS???
You fucking idiot.
5 How about yours?
In another stinging defeat, the cowardly, irrelevant Publicans have been BITCH SLAPPED again by the mighty Democratic party. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29106540/ The bill passes the US Senate with one vote to spare. The right can’t win. They are useless. We should have Al Franken’s vote too and we’ll get that soon – which would have made this an even larger majority.
Must suck for the righties to realize this is their future. Bend over punks you got more coming! LOL!
Meanwhile, one of the first grade classes in my school often holds class in the library because the heat does not always work in their own classroom. We have teachers’ assistants working with small groups of kids in storage closets and in hallways because there is no room elsewhere in the building. Bridges, dams, roads, trails, schools, parks, etc. all could use refurbishing, which would provide thousands and thousands of jobs as well as improving the quality of life for the rest of us. I don’t understand why Republicans in Congress think this is a bad thing.
OK I’ll give this a try…….
@3 and @4 you are both right. And even agree.
Geez, how is that possible?
When insults and neener-neeners are taken out, the ideas are left.
1)Emergency Stimulus is not budget
2)Emergency stimulus doesn’t mean we forget about our priorities….
I submit that, as commented in another thread, that if the “stimulus”,”reinvestment”,”bailout” is an emergency…..don’t make it so big. Why shoot your rifle full auto and expend all your ammo in a short burst. If the true “emergencies” are known, allocate those funds to address them. Make them temporary, with a timeline, read end date, and specific. Take the targets as they present themselves, and wait for results.
How and where we as a country “invest” in our future is a debate that as a result of the last election Democrats will lead on. BUT IT IS NOT STIMULUS OR AN EMERGENCY
Do we need to improve schools for our children? In some places yes. Is it an emergency right this minute? NO
Is weatherproofing homes a nice idea? yes. Do MOST homes need it???? is it an emergency? NO.
Is there a banking, home mortgage, credit emergency? YES
Addressing the specific problems there, with specific architectual and monetary changes will go a looooooooong way towards easing the current economic situation.
my .02
@8
I can completely relate to what you commented…But my question is…Is is an emergency on a national scale? or an issue on a local scale?
At the elementary school my mother in law works, they have seen increasing registrations for the past 10 years. They are at capacity and having to make choices like your school. However the next school over from them has declining registrations.. The difference is how the lines are drawn for the school boundaries. A little change and the registrations would equalize and both facilities would not be near capacity….
Those are the practical solutions we need now IMO…Is her whole district in emergency? no. Is there a way to solve the issue without having to spend millions on new facilities? yes.
Do politics get in the way??????
9 OK, let’s try this again.
We’re descending into an economic crisis that was triggered by a collapse of the housing market, which was exacerbated by irresponsible practices in the financial industry, and by opportunistic profiteering in the real estate and building industries.
At this point, however, to expect that anything is likely to lead to the return anytime soon of the milk-and-honey days of 2007 for the banks, the BIAW, Windermere Real Estate or Weyerhaeuser is to say the least, unrealistic.
There are lots of vacant homes right now. Would you have us putting people to work building more?
The emergency is that a lot of people are losing their jobs. Putting them back to work for the time being might require–horrors!–decoupling employment from maximizing the profitability of private corporations.
When I read TRAINS Magazine, I don’t just look at the technical and passenger articles in each issue, I do look it the business news articles as well, and in the recent one(March, 2009 the one on Newstands now), they are talking about the economy, and what freight cars being laid up showing a sign of the times. Over 2 years ago, center-beam lumber carriers and gondolas, ones that haul materials used in house construction, started showing up on rural sidings(areas where cars they expect to return to service are often stored), now autoracks and container cars are in storage, as the drop in demand for consumer goods has rendered them out of use. Locomotives too, end up in storage, BNSF has put 181 locomotives into the surge fleet, where un-needed locomotives are kept at strategic locations, ready to go.(The term around the shops is LUGO, Laid Up Good Order) In a way, what kind of rolling stock they lay up is a sign of the economy, and the Teamsters should bring it up.(The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, a major rail union is now under the Teamsters umbrella). In Erie, PA and London, Ontario, where heavy-haul locomotives are built, they are on pins and needles as ElectroMotive Diesel(London, Ontario, and once owned by GM, but now partly owned by Warren Buffet), Genearal Electric(Erie, PA) wonder what will happen to their backlogs, what deliveries will be canceled or deferred. A deal between both UP and BNSF over emissions clean-up might help, as a deadline draws near, 2010. Locomotives they buy now go against the cap on the agreement and they get credits. BNSF ordered at least 200 more GE Locomotives recently, which is interesting, Warren Buffet is a major stockholder of BNSF too! Also, the Evolution(GE) and SD70ACe/SD70M-2 (EMD) series locomotives are not replacing older units 1 for 1, but in many cases, replacing 2 of the older units, as they are more efficient fuel and emissions-wise, as well as power. GE is even working on capturing energy lost during breaking and storing it for use when the engineer will need it, like going uphill. Could Amtrak have ordered a few? Maybe, but I wonder if upgrading the older Genesis locomotives with the prime mover from the Evolution, which is a 12 cylinder vs. 16 cylinder, but produces more HP than the the older 16 cylinder engine would work, especially if the job is done in Amtrak’s own shop, in Indiana? GE would still be providing the engine.
One traffic line in railroading still going strong and even increasing? Coal traffic. Even after recent disasters at TVA Coal plants, it still provides a lot of the electricity in the midwest and East Coast.
RS @ 9
I submit that, as commented in another thread, that if the “stimulus”,”reinvestment”,”bailout” is an emergency…..don’t make it so big.
You have several flawed premises–so may, in fact, that it’s difficult to unravel them all. So, let’s start from the currently most salient fact relevant to the current crisis: unemployment.
In anther post, Jon included a link to a chart up on Barry Ritholtz’ blog showing the precipitous fall in employment over the past few months–the drop far outstrips any recession since WWII, and we haven’t hit bottom yet. Even if we consider the drop in percentage terms (Ritholtz’ chart shows absolute numbers), the drop in employment is scary.
Tell me if you need to see how this snowball rolls down hill, but the summary version is: if we don’t turn that trend around quickly, we’re starting at another great depression. That’s the nature of the crisis at hand. It was precipitated by a bubble collapse in the financial markets, but that’s not the truly scary part of our current situation.
Now, Economists will tell you that, in terms of immediate effect on the economy, it doesn’t really matter how the government spends us out of this free-fall. Averting the immediate disaster merely requires that the government spend some money.
For long-term effects, however, how the government spends money can make a huge difference. In that sense, now is the best time possible to address some of the long-standing infrastructure problems. Only, those infrastructure problems aren’t the same across the entire country. Hence, we get a mixed-bag of stimulus spending.
12 Is it excessively pollyanna-ish for me to infer from your post that there’s likely to be a near-term reduction in freight traffic, and that this might just possibly result in better on-time performance from Amtrak?
Also reminds me of a story from a friend who went to work in the 70’s for BN (as it was at at the time) and during his orientation, was on a yard crew that went to check out a forgotten boxcar. When they opened it up, there in the dust were several brand new 1961 Dodges.
(9) I dont disagree with you. But my district made 7 million in cuts last year, and has to make an additional 6 at the end of this year. We are at bare bones. We depend on local bond money, of which there is not much because of our economy. People dont want to vote themselves into higher property taxes, and I can understand that because I pay those taxes too. Supposedly there is relief for schools needing building improvements in this package. To me, putting people to work as construction workers, and the money that will go to the vendors who supply the materials is a win win situation.
@5 We will soon have many jobs to clean up the elephant shit left behind by the previous tenants.
Sparky
What is the name of the district that made 7 million in cuts last year?
Don
Would you not agree that unemployment is a result of the current crisis not the cause of?
double tap
@ 18
Would you not agree that unemployment is a result of the current crisis not the cause of?
Pardon me for answering a question with another question, but does the word “concomitant” mean anything to you?
if the fucking schools taught education, rather than, homosexuality, diversity, and white christian hating, you wouldnt have this problem.
14,
Looks like there might be, the railroads to watch for better OTP for Amtrak are the ones that normally give Amtrak the hard time, UP and CSX. Although an interesting sign, Amtrak is promoting the connection between the Northbound Starlight and Eastbound Portland Section of the Empire Builder again, due to constant delays on the Starlight, they have not done that in years. Instead because of a fear the 45 minute window they have for the cross-platform change to occur, they have put those passengers on the ridership discouraging 11 hour bus ride from Klamath Falls to Pasco. It will be a few months to tell. BNSF and Amtrak are prectically partners(the former is a ‘stockholder’ in the latter), and when I rode the Empire Builder 3 years ago, the only time we were in the hole, was for the Empire Builder in the other direction to pass. Excpt for a few miles, most of the line in Montana is Single-Tracked.
As for layoffs, the railroads are saying they are going to avoid them for the most part. Especially with track gangs. They got some make-work projects going on, including a long-delayed project to double-track Abo Canyon in New Mexico on BNSF’s Intermodal speedway between Chicago and Los Angeles. It was put off several times before, the usual engineering challenges, NIMBYS(apparently the ranchers are afraid of impacts), and shareholders(record traffic should mean record dividends to them, or at least that was in 2007). Engineers and Conductors might be seeing less work.
EvergreenRailfan @ 22: Another measure of the state of the economy is the air and ocean cargo industry.
A couple of years ago you could buy ocean-going cargo containers pretty cheap, as we had a huge surplus here in the U.S. due to the imbalance in trade. Cargo containers would arrive full of produce from Asia, but there wouldn’t be sufficient products to fill even a fraction of them for the westbound voyage. In some cases it was cheaper to build them new in China than to ship them back as an empty container, so the dang things became a big storage problem. This began to be alleviated when scrap metal prices spiked (they could be filled with scrap metal for the return voyage), but now demand has dropped off dramatically in both directions – coming and going. The next thing you are going to hear is the local port districts complaining that they are running out of money as imports/exports are one-third their previous volume.
As for air cargo, that’s even worse. Air cargo rates are the best they have been in years – and cargo brokers are desperately trying to sell space on aircraft. This doesn’t bode well for several new air cargo carriers that just started up in the past few years, all carriers are now parking older airplanes in the desert so they can reduce capacity. Locally, that’s bad news for Boeing, especially on the 787-8 program, which is currently almost all being sold as freighters. Some customers have already desperately sold brand new aircraft at a loss before taking delivery.
Moreover, all the aircraft currently being parked in the desert is a huge drag on the aircraft industry. Airlines need to be able to count on selling their old aircraft when they take delivery of a new one. As the used aircraft market dries up, eventually so will the new one.
@20
OK, since we will never achieve 100% employment, it is correct to say that unemployment is an existing, lesser cause of the current crisis.
Unemplyment, however, is not what brought on this current economic crisis. The rapidly growing unemployment numbers are a result of the financial (credit, mortgage, banking, lending, housing) collapse, not the cause of..
Obviously, the more people out of work, the more people who will default on mortgages etc and we get into an accelerating downward spiral.
I simply submit that the massive $$$ “stimulus” is not temporary and/or specific enough. If there are long term needs that should be addressed, why pile it into the stimulus? Politics…
@ 24
It’s good that you understand the downward spiral taking place, but focusing “cause”, at this point, is a grave mistake. When an avalanche is headed toward your village, you don’t really care whether that avalanche was caused by a skier or by hunter’s shotgun. After you’ve stemmed the avalanche, you can spend some time trying to prevent future avalanches, but you’re not going to stop the current avalanche by trying to address some “cause”.
At this point, the drop in unemployment has reached avalanche proportions, and the only way to stem that avalanche is through massive spending across a wide variety of fronts.
I simply submit that the massive $$$ “stimulus” is not temporary and/or specific enough.
Your objection is too vague. Could you be more specific, please?
23)RHP6033
An irony, a few months ago, TRAINS had an article on how the steel industry in the country was booming again, especially scrap steel. NOw that market is collapsing, but who knows, the controversial Buy American aspects of the stimulus package, might boom again soon. As for the Canadians decrying protectionist, the ones complaining the most are the Liberal and New Democratic Parties. There big base(where they hold the most seats) is Ontario. Toronto is replacing the Red Rockets(the streetcars) that replaced PCC Cars in the 1970s. In the late 1970s, the province of Ontario formed a Crown Corporation to develop a new streetcar. UTDC was later sold to a company bought by Bombardier. The terms of the bidding process last year benefited only Bombardier, and people cried foul and the process was repeated. One of the rules? That much of the content had to be made in Canada, and not only that, final assembly had to be done in Ontario. Bombardier has a plant in Thunder Bay, Ontario that they are talking about shuttering. Now that is protectionism in a way, as well as the old boys network. Although when the province formed UTDC, Toronto had run out of their usual source of rolling stock. They only bought around 200-300 new PCCs in the 1950s. They bought nearly 500-800 used ones from American Cities, ones that were virtually new as they were converted to buses. Some of those were only retired about 10 years ago. That was a great unsung American Product. It was a last ditch attempt by the Electric Railway industry in the 1930s to stay relevant, and the last ones were built in the 1950s. Some still run in Philadelphia, Kenosha, WI(bought them from Toronto about 10 years ago, don’t know exactly which city Toronto got them from), San Francisco(a mix of their own, used ones MUNI got in the 50s from St. Louis, ones bought from Toronto to sustain service in the 1970s while waiting for the Boeing LRVs, and ones bought from Philadelphia in the 1990s), Dallas(1 used from Toronto), Tuscon(used from Toronto), and a few museum operations here and there.
When I went by the Renton Airport over the weekend, I saw a few 737s, most still in the green film, but one was in Alaska Airlines colors(can’t miss it with the Eskimo on the tail), and I was wondering, how many more of those planes will see deferred deliveries, or end up right in Mojave or Miranha(AZ), two of the biggest aviation boneyards. As for early model 747s, there is one company that has a good use for them, and they are not getting much press about it. I am sure the Supertanker could come in handy in Australia right now, how many dead because of these brushfires that some were deliberately set, and amplified by the intense drought in Victoria and South Australia. The irony about that, Queensland is being hit by tropical storms, and has flooding. IF they had a container surplus, find a way to have them hold liquid, and send them south by rail, if they don’t have any tank cars that can do it. In a way, Australia reminds me a lot of the Wild West , except they have Gun Control. You have most of the population living near the coasts, and a vast sparsely settled interior. They did not even have a standard-gauge rail line from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific until 1970(requiring coach changes, making it easy for air travel to win a huge chunk of the domestic market), and they did not have Darwin connected until 2004.
Hello Sparky
You stated that your school district had to cut their budget last year by 7 million dollars and will have to cut it this year by another 6 million dollars.
What school district are you talking about?