Randal O’Toole writes here about Obama’s support for a new light rail mass transit system in Detroit. Detroit is a dying city (thanks to decades of statism) and it already has a “People Mover” that very few people ride, but clueless politicians like Obama and Michigan senator Carl Levin seem to think that Detroit will be revived with a gigantically expensive new rail system.
The record of such systems elsewhere is consistent: they cost far more than planned and ridership is far less than forecast. They don’t have environmental benefits either. All they have going for them is that they appeal to the authoritarian, control-freak nature of leftist politicians. I’d love to see a new “Joe the Plumber” ask Obama why he wants to squander tax dollars from people around the country on a sure-fire flop in Detroit.
