“Smart public policy would have added funding for public transit, for a variety of reasons. First of all, it would support public transit jobs.”
Dumb reason to spend more taxpayer money – good jobs don’t come from this sort of desperation.
” Second, it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Have you been anywhere near the back of a bus ? Bring on the gasoline – diesel fumes kill!
“Third, making it cheaper for folks to get around both increases productivity and makes it easier for someone to take a job outside their immediate area.”
Finally a good reason to support public transit.

“And this austerity trickles down to those who have to pay more for the same public transit, and then reduce their other purchases.”
Yes, making people spend more on something means they have less to spend on other things. So cancel the tax-gobbling HSR and reduce the bus fares. Duh!

“There have been some cost overruns,” and “Even if the investment in HSR is a bit more than advertised, its ultimate goal is extremely worthwhile”.
Nice way of saying let’s support my pet project. Sounds like every lobbyist on K Street.

So what? He invests, someone else boycotts, jobs are lost, not his fault, but you slag him for doing what you assume is against his principles.
If he’d been part of the boycott, you’d slag him for costing jobs?
Why don’t you save your indignation for something important, like his policies? This crap is petty and childish.

“I’ve got nearly two dozen relatives living in Canada and none of them have the problems which you describe. None.

They grumble about the taxes but they like the healthcare enough that not in a million years would they even consider trading away their healthcare system for a tax cut and US healthcare.”

Your highly selective and unrepresentative group of Canadians is not impressive in the least. I can name dozens more friends and relatives in Canada who have suffered the problems I describe. And I have dozens of friends and relatives in the US who complain about the bureaucracy of the US system but who do and have received excellent and timely care that is far superior to what we get up here. I have lived under this system for 40 years and have seen repeatedly the problems I have described. I do not deny that some Canadians would not opt for an American style system, just as there are Americans who do not want your system changed.

My point is not to argue with the idea of health care reform, it is to make you see that Canada’s system is not the the way to go, and so if you want to reform it, look at the PROBLEMS that these other countries have so you can avoid these mistakes and make a better plan than Obamacare.

“If a Canadian has money to pay for surgery and other care, surely s/he can afford to come to the United States where money means head of the line privileges? If a Canadian doesn’t have money and is just whining about the length of time s/he has to wait for treatment, go find somewhere else to complain about it. There are a whole lot of us here who wish we had it so good. I can’t work up much sympathy for you.”

I’m not asking for your sympathy. I’m trying to make you see that Canada doesn’t have all the answers either, and that single-payer government run health care can land you with a whole new set of life-threatening problems. One woman currently fighting our system found a lump in her breats. She had all the diagnostics done and they found that the lump was malignant, but no sign it had spread (it might have, it might still), and it was still small – less than 1 centimeter. She was not allowed to receive the drug herceptin, because the government only permits its use if the lump is over 1 centimeter in size and has already spread. So here is a case where a cure could be virtually assured, but the government regulations interfere in the decisions made by the doctors. This is not right, period.
This sort of thing can happen in the US, I know, but do not expect all your problems to be solved by a system like Canada’s. The US still has a higher rate of cancer survival than any other country. People do die in Canada waiting for health care, who would not die in the US. My point is, don’t copy Canada.

Bluetoe2:
Heritage Foundation? Where did that come from?
This is my experience with the health care in Canada. Shortages of doctors, shortages of hospital beds, extreme shortages of specialists. Everyone has health care “coverage”, but it does not guarantee access. You cannot lose your coverage, but you can still be unable to access timely health care because you CAN lose your doctor. If your doctor retires, if s/he moves, if you move elsewhere, you can wait months or years to get another doctor. People set up their lives around their health care. Sometimes people won’t move because they’ll lose their doctor. Some people can’t find a doctor in their new town, so they travel back to the old place to see their old doctor, even if that’s in another province.
The Canadian government keeps costs down in the most common way that governments do: they starve the beast. We have some great medical people here who have come up with innovative ways of delivering health care more cheaply, eg, through larger clinics with smaller staffs, electronic record keeping, etc. There are some really good preventive programs for common problems. Some very good stuff, that came out of having limited funds. But that’s innovation from the medical community, not the government. and it doesn’t help the nearly 20% of Canadians who cannot find a doctor, and it doesn’t stop hospitals from closing down beds due to stingy block grants, and it doesn’t make the system more patient-oriented when patients represent a loss instead of a source of revenue.
Just the facts, Bluetoe2, from my 40 years of experience with this health care system. And I’m not angry anymore. Just resigned to it.

Don’t come to Canada, you’ll only make my waiting lists longer.
I live in Canada. I’ve been trying to see an orthopedic surgeon since October, but I needed a bunch of diagnostics first, then a referral from my GP.
Got all the diagnostics, my knee is badly damaged, I’m in constant pain and cannot work, much less walk. Now I need the referral. My GP won’t even return my calls. He’s too busy.
Once I get a referral, it’s 4-6 months to get an APPOINTMENT with the surgeon. Surgery itself? A dream. Some types of surgery have a 2 year waiting list. And this is near Toronto, where the system is best funded.
This is the reality of single-payer systems where NO private care for anything covered by the government is legally available unless you go to another country.
There is a thriving business in “medical tourism” for folks who can pay to vacation in Thailand and get their knee replacements.
Be careful, and well-informed, about what you wish for.

““we had to reassure the markets” and save the nation from a government shutdown? I think that’ll go over just as well as this tax cut deal among the left. And when the economy suffers as a result, support from elsewhere will wither as well.”

What if it works? Will you fall back on “But it would have worked BETTER if we had siphoned even more money out of the hands of people who create jobs”?

“Even with the tax cut deal, the prediction is for a weak recovery. The only quick recovery in the past couple years has been corporate profits.”
Ah, you’re forgetting the expansion of government jobs. Half a million. Best sector of the economy – the ones that produce nothing at huge expense.

“So GM is now free and clear of preferred stock owned by the US government, and well on their way to paying back all of the rescue funds.”
….using stimulus money, which they were given gratis and wont have to pay back. Nice way to run an economy….into the ground.

Is this blog monitored AT ALL? I might agree with the hack who wrote this if I could step through the cesspool of witless dross scrawled by this unlettered oaf. I expect better of FDL.