We’ve all heard of families where one person worked hard and made a lot of money, which attracted relatives eager to sponge off of that person’s wealth. Most would call such families dysfunctional because most of those family members should have been able to support themselves. Joe Biden’s family is like that.
An Amtrak train passes through Delaware. Photo by David Wilson.
I don’t mean Jill, Hunter, or any of his blood relatives. I mean Amtrak. As he himself has said, “The conductors, the engineers” on the trains then-Senator Joe Biden once regularly rode between Washington and Delaware “literally became my family.”
Yesterday, Biden traveled to his home state of Delaware to announce that he was giving $16 billion to support his family. Unlike the wealthy leader of the above hypothetical family, however, Biden isn’t digging into his own pockets to support family members who are too unproductive to support themselves. Instead, he expects us to pay for it. That makes his family completely dysfunctional.
Joe cares for his family…..
Besides payoffs from foreign companies. …….
– His son hunter pilfered 20,000 dollars from kids college savings for hookers and cocaine.
– Molested his daughter in shower at age 13.
16 billion is a drop in the bucket. The main emphasis is North East corridor needs 54 Billion President Biden’s original infrastructure plan called for spending $80 billion on Amtrak, expecting that most of it would go to cover that $52 billion backlog reported in 2010. Now Amtrak has upped the ante by claiming the backlog has increased to well over $100 billion. And rebuilding it to accommodate Shinkansen style High speed rail would cost quarter TRILLION dollars. Undoubtedly Biden has plans to piss away more money on trains to nowhere.
Long run point is, Aviation industry regardless of it’s faults and need for some subsidies, is running it’s own capital to finance next generation airliners. The “Bypass ratio” of jet engines, was how much air flows thru engine core, vs. how much flows past it to the wings. Old days of aviation, average ratio was 2 or 3 to 1, meaning 1 unit of air went the core of the turbofan and 2 or 3 units went to the wings. As was the same for turbojet engines which is why Concorde was a miserable failure except as luxury livery.
Today bypass ratio modern average jets is 10:1 and new generation engines promise 12:1. Coming years, it’ll be 15:1 and true next gen will offer 25:1 In any case, it means fuel economy of jets will rise 50% in a decade. And huge advantage because said new planes don’t require new infrastructure.
If/or when synthetic or new aviation fuel blends supplement jet fuel, trains will have lost most their ridership to planes that can fly twice the fuel efficiency of said predecessors.
The man has no shame.
LazyReader,
Sometimes your comments are completely off the wall and sometimes they are highly educational. Thank you for the information about bypass ratios, which is new to me.
I’m curious if any of them get done.
It doesnt matter if the projects, GET done?
What concerns, is if after being built what financial plan is in place to support its long term upkeep.
Fares would have to support a 30 year loan guarantee and pay off its construction cost, all while accumulate sufficient revenue to pay its labor costs, benefits package to employees and upkeep of rails in the interim years before they rust into oblivion.
Since Amtrak let its infrastructure rot once before…why we surprised they’d allow it to happen again
And once these funds have been spent–and Amtrak continues to lose money, we will inevitably be told that if Amtrak just received sufficient funding, everything would be okay. So they will get more funding and fall further behind.
And the same thing will happen over and over…