Or, as the headline writer for the Des Moines Register put it,

$80 million at stake if Iowa doesn’t fund passenger rail

Well, duh. The $318 million dollar rail boondoggle announced just before the election requires Iowa to spend $20 million to get the feds to kick in for their share of a project that nobody would ever dream of financing with their own money. Even if the ridiculously optimistic passenger usage would occur, Iowa would still be on the hook for $3 million each year — $12 per ticket — for a slower, less reliable and more expensive alternative to the Megabus.
The article makes the loss of the federal wastage to help Iowa waste its own money look like some kind of a threat. Don’t throw us into that briar patch! The “deficit reduction” commission issued its draft report yesterday. Absurd rail pork like this should be the first thing to go.
Related: Will new Governor stop Iowa’s crazy train?

Tags: Crazy Train, Des Moines Register, passenger rail, pork

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