San Diego Gets $9 million from transportation Proposition 1B- Julian gets nothing $10 billion Proposition 1A for bullet train on Nov. ballot- Julian

San Diego Gets $9 million from transportation Proposition 1B- Julian gets nothing
$10 billion Proposition 1A for bullet train on Nov. ballot- Julian will get nothing

The distribution of money from the borrowed $19 billion Proposition 1B transportation bond approved by voters was announced earlier this year. This is not to be confused with this election’s Proposition 1A which, if passed, would make a borrowed $10 billion down payment on the estimated $40 to $80 billion more needed to be borrowed to build a bullet train from San Diego to San Francisco with a spur to Sacramento for the state’s politicians. It probably wouldn’t go anywhere until the $40 billion to $80 billion in additional funds appeared like borrowed magic. All the more reason for Gov. Schwarzenegger to implement his plan to have California print its own money. San Diego is receiving their $9 million share from Prop. 1B borrowing to be used for new buses. This is .047% of the total to be given out all over California, which is the percentage that Sacramento cares about San Diego. Julian’s percentage reflects the amount Sacramento cares about Julian, but not the amount Julian residents will pay in taxes for the Propositions. Gov. Schwarzenegger said, “…we can stimulate the economy, reduce traffic congestion and protect the environment by reducing greenhouse emissions” by throwing borrowed money at this problem. San Diego will replace old diesel-burning buses that are expensive to maintain and are beyond their useful life with cleaner-burning, more fuel efficient new ones. The old ones will probably be sold at ridiculously low prices down into Mexico where they are in the prime of their useful life and are cheap to maintain. The beauty of this is that the old bus greenhouse emissions then become their problem, not ours as long as the Mexican air stays on their side of the border. Caltrans Director Will Kempton said “…the money is giving the state’s struggling economy a badly needed boost. For every $1 billion of borrowed money we can put out there… we are gaining 18,000 jobs.” Let’s see, 18,000 x19= 342,000 + 18,000 x minimum of 40 if 1A passes= 720,000= Total of 1,062,000 new jobs, probably more- we can build a huge new city somewhere! The wonderful thing is that we can tax those people heavily too, to help pay back the borrowed bond’s interest. Most of the vehicles and equipment being purchased and contractors involved in the program will come from out of state. The $29 billion from just these two Propositions is $14 billion more than the $15 billion the state was short this year so far for its entire budget (the $15 billion is not reduced by the amount Gov. Schwarzenegger just borrowed to make it look smaller.) Fortunately for the people of California (taxpayers) the costs for these Propositions are only in billions of dollars.

©2008 Eric Stamets