Couldnt have said it better myself

What really ticks me off about Amtrak is just that we've already seen this type of policy in action. We already know whether or not it works. We can look up exactly what will happen. Japan did this. Japan in the 90s under protectionism, had an economic slow down. In the 80s, before protectionism came into play, the Japanese were buying so much American property, and American companies, that we had newspapers screaming the Japs were taking over. Then the 90s Protectionism hit, and wiped the Japanese economy, climaxing with the crash of the Asian markets in 1997, and all the Japanese firms sold off American assets. But during this time... Japan did exactly what we're doing now. They propped up banks with massive bailouts. It didn't work. They tried stimulus. It didn't work. And finally they invested in a massive high speed rail network, all across the country, and used the same rationals there, that we are here. "it'll boost the economy" and "It will provide jobs!", and "It will save money through mass transit, instead of building roads". Same exact rationalizations that we have here in the US. Did it do any of that for Japan? NO! They didn't bounce back economically. It required more than 10 years to recover, even after this expensive boondoggle of a train system was setup. Look up "The lost decade" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Decade_%28Japan%29 And Japan right now is one of the most indebted nations on the planet. This is the model we should follow? Are you guys KIDDING?!? Oh and by the way... Just had to toss this in. What's one of the big problems in Tokyo right now? People can't get home, or to work. People are actually sleeping at their office buildings. Why??!!? Because with the power plant down, there is not enough power to run the trains, and the people who have grown dependent on them.... are stuck. Good job Japan. Hey... Lets do that here.... and in California, which has already had rolling black outs, and which has no chance of an earthquake and tsunami... right? Right...

I certainly think the station ought to be named "Sheriff Biden", not "Joe Biden" or "Senator Joe Biden" or "Good Ole Boy Joe", but "Sheriff Biden". It has a ring to it, a cynical ring, but a ring nonetheless.