U.S. Taxpayers Are Gouged on Mass Transit Costs
This article is one-sided.  The problem is that it is aimed at the wrong side.<p>Yes, government purchasing and management of projects is a disaster.  I have first hand experience in this realm. As a taxpayer you almost want to cry when you see it happen.  I won't get into the nitty-gritty of the details.  I saw, as an example, a government agency pay DOUBLE what they would have paid for a commodity computer accessory.  They had bids (mine, among others, I am sure) that cut their costs in half.  Yet, they went with the bid that doubled their costs.  Why?  Because those doing the buying were so incompetent and insecure that they wanted one supplier to provide all the components rather than allowing the best suppliers to come in and provide them with competitive pricing.  It was "cover my ass" at it's best.<p>Let's not even mention the ridiculous rules that make it nearly impossible for small businesses to participate and expensive for others to do so.<p>To make matters worst, this particular contract was awarded to a foreign supplier.  The funds came from Obama's "American Reinvestment and Recovery Act".  Money that was supposed to create jobs in the US went out of the country.  When confronted with this reality they came back saying that the company in question had sales offices in the US and that they had formed a corporation in the US and that this qualified them as a US entity.  Holy crap!<p>I firmly believe that we'd do far better if government wasn't involved in most of this stuff.  I'm not sure how that can happen, but the idea is appealing to me.<p>I said that the article is one-sided because it completely ignores on of the real reasons why these construction projects are so expensive and take so long:  unionized workers.  To put it plainly, their purpose in life is to rape the US taxpayer for as much as they can get and, in the process, provide themselves with as much pay, benefits, vacation and short work days as possible.  And we keep paying for them once they retire in the form of ridiculous lifetime pensions.  The real cost of that tunnel is probably far greater once you take into account having to pay those workers' pensions for life.<p>Examples of ridiculous union behavior abound.  If you've ever had to work with or within a unionized system you've probably experienced the state of disbelief most rational people experience when they realize what's going on.<p>Take, as an example, doing a trade-show in NYC.  I have dozens of examples of union bullshit, but I'll just mention one.  We did a show where we needed to have a light turned off above our booth.  That's it.  The request was that simple:  Please turn off the light above our booth.  Of course, a union electrician had to do this.  The fee?  $368.  Three hundred and sixty eight dollars for the guy to go over to the breaker panel and flip a switch.<p>OK, here's another.  You are not allowed to plug in your devices into the electrical system.  You know, what you do at home and at the office all the time.  Nope, a union electrician has the necessary expertise to install an extension cord and plug in your computer into the AC outlet.  I forget what the fee was for that, but it was ridiculous.<p>Our solution?  We did all of our booth setup work at night.  The union workers in the night shift are lazier than shit.  They don't want to work.  So, they let you do almost whatever you want as long as you let them sleep on the job.  Sometimes you'd have to slip someone a hundred dollar bill to be left alone.  Far better than dealing with their bullshit.<p>I have not had to work with unionized construction crews.  I can only imagine how much worst the whole thing must be.<p>The best thing that could happen to this country is if unions were outlawed.  Of course, that will never happen.  I'd sure be nice though.  Imagine, people actually having to work for a living.  And, produce, behave, be responsible, be capable, compete, etc.  What a concept.<p>Dont' get me started about the planned California high-speed rail. It's a $68 billion money grab designed to feed unions and keep politicians who favor them in power.  The money will never be recovered.  The line makes no sense whatsoever.  Sick.