blogs.zdnet.com — The biggest of the Fat Cat Nations right now: China. What are they spending money on? They?re building more and more railroads! And trains. Not buying iPods, SUVs or a world-beating military. Trains. Last year China spent about $50 billion on railroads. They expect to nearly double that this year.
Jan 26, 2009 View in Crawl 4
juttmanJan 26, 2009
Ham that they call bacon and Mountie hats.
acid_jazzJan 26, 2009
Yikes. That's wayyy too much. Food is insanely cheap in Korea. I bought kimbap for breakfast every day for like 1,200 won.
trolleyfanJan 26, 2009
Unless population density is *very* high, passenger trains never make money...ever. The only reason the U.S. has as many as it does is because the government bribed...er...*rewarded* railway companies for building them by giving them tons-O-free land. Southern Pacific was once *the* biggest land owner in California (and possibly still is).Once the free land ran out...so did the support system for passenger trains. So they stopped running them...they were just getting in the way of the nice money-making freight trains anyway.
goatmonkey2112Jan 26, 2009
I'm not trying to argue against it. I'd be happy to have a nice rail system. I'm just telling you one of the reasons it's not happening.
tdotfunkJan 27, 2009
Did you mean rams? Big ass-rams?
regeyaJan 27, 2009
"Our government spends billions of dollars on iPods and SUVs?"I was wondering the same thing. It seems more than a little disingenuous to compare consumer spending in America with government spending in China. I seriously doubt, and I'm sure it can be proven that they're not doing this, that Chinese people are foregoing all consumer spending in favor of donating to the building of light rail lines.Personally I see iPods as a mixed bag. I have a Sansa Fuze, and the only CDs I've bought since getting the thing have been releases which aren't released as downloadable media.I mean, what would the point of blocking iTMS in China if nobody was using it?
testiculeseJan 27, 2009
Try moving all those people so you can put in a rail line.
zacharytelschowJan 27, 2009
An emotional appeal article on how other countries are wasting their money on things that aren't as cost effective as the alternatives we currently use. Buried.
fakemoneyFeb 20, 2009
<a class="user" href="http://www.realisticdropcard.com">http://www.realisticdropcard.com</a>
pandabearshenyuMar 29, 2009
So that's an excuse for America to sit on its ass, cuz "DEY GOTZ CHEAP LABER!"okay...