High-Speed Spending?

President Obama and Vice-President Biden were recently in Tampa touting funds from the “recovery” (read: government spending money it doesn’t have) act that will go toward creating a high-speed rail line in the area (between Tampa and Orlando). The federal grant will total $1.25 billion. That’s 1.25 billion more dollars the federal government doesn’t have unless it borrows more, prints more or taxes more.

And as a reminder, despite projections from politicians and special interests in favor of them, these types of systems don’t always pay for themselves (I wrote in more detail on this subject in a previous blog). This is just another example of government redirecting the economy, because politicians believe they know how to  “invest” (read: spend) taxpayer money better than the taxpayers do.

Obama told the crowd in Tampa the following:

I’m excited. I’m going to come back down here and ride it. Joe and I — you all have a date.

It seems that politicians are never more ecstatic than when they are bragging about spending other people’s money.