Improvements to conventional passenger rail as well as high speed rail could be funded from a 1% Wallstreet sales tax and nationalized Federal Reserve. Conservatively there about 5 Quadrillion dollars traded on Wallstreet every year that remain un-taxed. The nationalized Federal Reserve could issue loans for building of infrastructure at 0% interest whether it be to freight railroads who want electrification or states that want to improve their own railroads. People always complain “we don’t have the money” well here are two areas where the money can come from.
From the link on nationalizing the Federal Reserve:
“These state and authority bonds will make possible the long overdue rebuilding of the entire US Interstate Highway System, including its bridges; the national passenger, freight, and commuter rail using the technology of the 21st century; the national electricity production and transmission grid; canals, ports, sewage and water systems; telecommunications; public housing; schools, hospitals, libraries, public buildings, etc.
This credit will also be applied to science drivers. From modernizing and expanding America’s national laboratories - including high-energy physics, power technologies and biomedical research – to restarting the space program for exploration and colonization.”
So the entire rebuilding of all of the above is “long overdue”?
Incidentally, I find it interesting and revealing that the one private sector business included in this vast list of long overdue rebuilding is private freight rail. Once we entirely rebuild freight rail, should we nationalize it? Is that long overdue too?
I do not bring up nationalization as a red herring. The quote from the link calls for the entire rebuilding of a long list of national public sector infrastructure. Included in that list is freight rail, which is not public sector.
So why on earth would this link call for the entire rebuilding of freight rail infrastructure as though it were one more line item in a list of nationalized infrastructure? What is the public interest in rebuilding private business with public money? I think it is an obvious question to ask. It is not a red herring at all. It is more like the 600-pound gorilla in the living room.
I do not understand your question about a sales tax.
“These state and authority bonds will make possible the long overdue rebuilding…the national electricity production and transmission grid; telecommunications" These are also private entities. Private entities, including the rails, have received help for years. These are zero-interest bonds, not gifts, and the principle must be repaid. It is not about nationalization, except in the minds of fear mongering folks. But immediately suggesting it is drags an extraneous element into the discussion to distract, rather than discuss the merits of an infrastructure improvement plan.
A 1% tax on the sales of securities sounds like a sales tax. What’s so hard about understanding the concept, even if you don’t agree?
There is nothing hard to understand about a 1% sales tax. I was only asking you to explain your comment because I had not looked into that aspect of the reference. I was more interested in the proposal to nationalize the Federal Reserve, and became particularly intrigued by the proposal which appears to call for the entire rebuilding of the private freight rail system. But perhaps it is poorly worded and did not mean that. However, it does seem to be a proposal without limit, so expansive goals seem to fit the context.
“1% tax on the sales of securities sounds like a sales tax.”
The more you tax the less you will have to tax. Securities may be traded in other countries and this concept will only serve to motivate both traders and the foreign trading exchanges to adapt.
I have no idea what would result from the 1% sales tax on five-quadrillion dollars traded every year. Maybe somebody can break it down to annual revenue for us. Then add in the effect of zero-interest loans from the nationalized Federal Reserve.
But aside from the minutia of how the revenue is generated, I would like to know who will be paying the bill. It is hard to believe that such an astounding amount of money is simply there for the taking without a consequence of cost.
Of course the tax would have a consequence but it would be no different then today where you pay a tax on the things you buy. The users of the HFT machines would pay the tax. 5 Quadrillion dollars is approximately 5000 Trillion dollars so 1% of that is 50 trillion dollars.
When I suggested that this is being characterized as a tax without consequences, I was referring to the consequences of the cost. Do you think our economy is strong enough that we can collect 50-trillion dollars per year in additional tax on top of the existing taxes collected today?
The above web site misleads persons who are not well versed in railroad operations. 4 items are.
Any freight trains above what speed ( 70 ? ) requires some kind of ECP for longer trains.
HrSR or HSR right of ways for passenger trains can use much more direct routes with much steeper grades. However HrSR freights would like a grade of no more than .5% but of course in some mountainous areas will require steeper grades with maybe needing helpers / DPU. That automatically requires a secon ROW and maybe extra track.
Electrification ? Not as easy as presented
The need for a wide ROW . to separate HSR from freight.
As for the financing make it more reasonable .01% of the transaction ?
Most of that money is fake and created on computers through speculation and other unproductive activities. Most of the money never makes it into the hands of the average person so yes our economy is strong enough.
Speculation is an entirely necessary and productive economic principle, the purpose of which is the allocation of resources over time. All the money involved in speculation is real.
But in any case, if you believe that the tax base for this is fake money, how do you expect a tax on it to produce real money for fixing the infrastructure?
The problem is those 535 clowns in congress who fail to realize that the money spent fo high spped and improved passenger service as well as improved freight rail service would more than pay for itself with the taxes that would come from the additional workforce, passenger rail taxes and the additional taxes that the railroads would pay due to higher income. This would not happen over night, but within a few years it would be paid for.
Both parties are to blame. We should thrw tham all out and start with fresh people and fresh minds. Then maybe some of this countries problems would get solved.
The numbers posted by ontheBNSF are grossly exaggerated. Actual NYSE + NASDAQ + AMEX +ETF’s dollar volume for 2012 was about $13,500 billion = $13.5 trillion.
So a 1% sales tax would have generated $135 billion last year, a lot of money, but hardly in the ballpark he suggests. Not to nitpick, but it would help if OP’s actually fact-checked their contentions or provided a citation, especially when the numbers appear overly large (or small).
I would like to see proportional representation. That would give us several parties that would better reflect the range of citizen opinion. But for historical reasons we are a two party system. I don’t expect that will change in my lifetime. Finally, I am inclined to agree with Winston Churchill that “Democracy is the worst possible from of government. Except for all the others.”
So you are claiming the derivatives, bonds, futures are another $4865 trillion to bring the total up to your $5000 Trillion? get real ! You are talking a number that is 300 times the entire US government debt. you simply made the number up. Where’s the documentation?