We are currently having a rather asinine federal tax rate debate – how to offset on the federal ledger the one year extension of the payroll tax diminishment.

Lost, sadly, is the discussion of whether or not we should be so doing.

This is in fact not a “tax cut” at all – not in the income tax sense of the word.  It is a reduction in the payments made to the Social Security program (SSI).

A reduction which – definitively – does nothing to create jobs or “stimulate” the economy.

Because no one in the private sector makes any permanent decision based upon temporary government policy.

If they can’t afford to permanently hire you, a temporary tax cut doesn’t make it any more feasible.  A part of why our egregious unemployment problem has persisted under the current, temporarily lower payroll tax rates.

This lack of policy permanence – which has been rampant throughout the Olympic-ly overactive Obama Administration – is a large contributor to the uncertainty that has plagued us and our economy lo these last nearly three years.

Meanwhile, the per person Social Security payment reduction is tiny – about $20 a week.

Keynesian dreams aside, government spending doesn’t “stimulate” the economy.  2009’s $787 billion – plus inordinate interest – didn’t.  Twenty bucks a week per employee certainly won’t.

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How serious can the Democrats be about deficit reduction?

From the Associated press:

Amtrak and rail projects in 15 states are being awarded the $2 billion that Florida lost after the governor canceled plans for high-speed train service.

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President Obama’s proposed $53-billion more for “high-speed rail” (on top of a previous $10-billion) is a testimony to the power of adjectives.

If it were labeled “plain old rail travel” it would lack the pizzazz but would be far more accurate.  Understating costs, overstating benefits, and lots of supersonic rhetoric are the selling points for high-speed rail.

The “high speed” adjective invokes thoughts of bullet trains speeding at 150 mph, 200 mph or more.  The reality of Obama’s plan is—at best—the 85 mph that is the average speed of America’s fastest train, the Amtrak-run Acela.

When Obama claims his trains would reach 100 mph and more, he’s talking about peak speed reached only for short stretches, not the average.

How about pollution savings?  The supposed rail advantage depends on comparing apples to oranges.  If you compare auto emissions on highways, they’re no worse than rail emissions.  Rail has an advantage only if you compare long-distance train trips with car emissions from stop-and-go driving in the city.

An exhaustive Department of Energy analysis by Oak Ridge National Laboratory concludes, “intercity auto trips tend to be relatively efficient highway trips with higher-than-average vehicle occupancy rates — on average, they are as energy-efficient as rail intercity trips. Additionally, if passenger rail competes for modal share by moving to high speed service, its energy efficiency should be reduced somewhat12 — making overall energy savings even more problematic.”

The lack of energy or pollution savings leaves us with the key problem:  Huge expense with little benefit.

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Traveling on Amtrak’s Texas Eagle from Chicago to St. Louis on November 10 will set you back $24. More, if you want to ride in a first class sleeper car compartment. Add $136 for a superliner roomette, $217 for a family bedroom, and $260 for a superliner bedroom.

But there’s a big problem. Even with higher charges, taxpayers are subsidizing first class sleeper service.

Amtrak’s Sleeper service comes with some nice perks. Beds to stretch out in, sometimes a private bathroom (no having to share the gross public toilet). Some rooms even come with a shower. On top of that:

Sleeping car passengers are entitled to a range of hotel-like amenities, including fresh linen and towel service, complimentary bottled water and daily newspapers.

A new Waste Action Alert details how cutting federal subsidies for first class sleeper car service on Amtrak could save up to $1.2 billion over ten years.

Why the spending is wasteful:

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In a time when the State of Illinois has reached an all time financial low, it is pushing out state grants to build train/bus stations where they aren’t needed. The state is dangling a $6 million grant in front of my hometown, Quincy, IL to build a new station. Coincidentally, the state owes almost that exact amount of money to our local school system. Building multi-million dollar train stations while school districts, hospitals, and non-profits are threatened to the point of closing their doors is, well, insane.

But, I digress. A ll politics is local and the ‘leaders’ of the City of Quincy would rather take the $6 million grant than see someone else get it. That’s nuts! The high road doesn’t seem to play a role in this conversation. Just over a month ago I went to the Quincy City Council and asked them to return the money to the state and to send a message that this kind of spending in tough economic times was preposterous. I further explained that this was an ethical issue, not a political one.

It seems the concern of our local government is more about the disposition of the “free money”, than the ethical dilemma that such a project represents in dire economic times.

Logical people would see this as an opportunity to let the State of Illinois know that grants (free money) should positively affect the communities it is trying to reach by ending up where the existing needs lie, like paying delinquent payments to our schools, for example.

Carol Knowles, State Comptroller Dan Hyne’s Spokewoman was recently quoted as follows:

“Illinois ended the year in the worst fiscal position in it’s history,”

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Supertrain 2010 = Supertrain 1979!

President Barack Obama has pledged $8 billion in tax dollars to build a national network of high-speed rail—trains that can carry passengers at speeds in excess of 150 MPH.

But the Supertrain fantasy was a mistake back in the 1970s, when it gave rise to one of the most expensive—and rotten—TV shows in history. And it’s just as much of a wreck in the 21st century for at least three reasons:

1. The lowball costs. CNN estimates that delivering on the plan could cost well over $500 billion and take decades to build, all while failing to cover much of the country at all. Internationally, only two high-speed rail lines have recouped their capital costs and all depend on huge subsidies to stay in operation.

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There are millions of tweets every day, and the government is paying scientists $678,000 to read them and measure the happiness of the written expressions

National Science Foundation discovers the cure for politicians’ dismal approval ratings; Taxpayer funded researchers to brief Congress on how to increase constituent trust and approval ratings this Friday

The right to free speech now includes government subsidized cell phones; Phone companies receive up to $10 a month in government subsidies to cover what amounts to about $3 in service per beneficiary

“Cell phone ownership is a right,” says company that provides taxpayer subsidized phones

Taxpayers subsidize about $32 of the cost of a train ticket for every Amtrak passenger

Despites the massive $787 billion in federal stimulus spending, the national unemployment rate rises to nearly 9.8 percent and the nation marks the 21st month of net job losses, longer than at any time since the Great Depression…

The White House says stimulus spending has already had its biggest impact and probably won’t contribute to significant growth next year

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