Tennessean Gets It Wrong
The Tennessean asserts today that "local governments will pay an estimated $3.76 million for construction, trains and stations for the Nashville-to-Lebanon commuter rail line."

That is not true.

Governments never pay for anything. Taxpayers do.

And this boondoggle is going to cost taxpayers $37.6 million - $40 million or more when you toss in the inevitable cost overruns - and that's only to build the train, not to operate it. No urban mass transit system in the country operates withoug ongoing government subsidies - usually large subsidies. This boondoggle will be costing taxpayers millions of dollars every year to operate, carry very few riders and have no significant effect on road traffic congestion. Does The Tennessean care? Apparently not.

But The Tennessean at least reveals the truly bad nature of government fiscal planning when it admits that "the eastern leg of the commuter rail was chosen as the first of five regional routes because officials thought it would be the cheapest and the easiest to finalize politically."

Note that such concerns as potential ridership and ongoing operational costs are not mentioned - only that we could build it cheap and, more important, get the politicians to agree to spend the money. Because in The Tennessean's world, taxpayers don't matter, only governments.