He is extremely good at making government get under my skin.

Politicians love to spend other people's money

"Hey bro what you do with that girl from the club last night?" 5:10

You find very quickly the value of something when it's paid for voluntarily.

Its 2018, I have a feeling that the construction is still not complete.

Amazing that there are so few subscribers to this channel. Great content. Thank you for taking the time to download the videos. Peace

A 125 mile route from Phoenix to Tucson, Arizona is about $15 through greyhound. That's cheap! Why would I want a $100 train ride?

I love you John Stossel, "Politicians have different incentives, like sucking up to other politicians. Government workers have time to stand around." Hahahahahahahah.

This is why the private rail line in Florida (Brightline) is so interesting. There's also one planned in Texas.

So your telling me people have to pay taxes to pay for a fast train that nobody is going to use... noice

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAND the rail is canceled from the original plan wasting billions of tax payers dollars.

The problem isn’t spending more, but getting value for what we spend. I already pay $185 in registration fees for my car, $400 per year in personal property taxes on my car. Plus sales tax, federal and state gas taxes, fees on travel. No to mention Federal income taxes of 33% and state taxes of 7% and real estate property taxes of $10,000. And about $100 month in tolls, and special taxes on parking, hotels. etc. Enough is enough. In my state the gas taxes are seen as a kitty to allocate to other budget line items.

We used to have an extensive national private rail network and many local streetcar systems... until the government started heavily subsidizing car infrastructure.

Busses still run on public roads as far as I know. Factor in the cost of those roads before you conclude that trains are worse. The future of America is crumbling roads.

Funny how these bureaucrats sound like the bureaucrats in Atlas Shrugged. Lol. The end is near. Lol.

"Buses get no subsidy?" Who builds and maintain the roads they run on? Who builds, maintains, and operates airports? (And if you think either one pays enough user fees or taxes to cover the costs, you'd better take a course in economics.)

In Seattle, we voted on a Sound Transit #3 for trains that nobody wants, and most of the money being taxed is used to pay off the overruns from Sound Transit #2. If only we had free market solutions for transit...

I believe in his past life he was a comedian. Cuz his delivery on serious matters is bonkers. Keep it up

I live in Austria, Everybody goes by train here, very few travel by car. It's much more pleasant and cheaper. It was all build by the government.

I decided to put John Stossel to the test and see how much it would cost via Amtrak or Grayhound. So I picked a city and picked a day and here's what I found: The bus was slower, BUT it was cheaper by nearly $20. First, I had to take a bus to ANOTHER STATE so I can even reach the Amtrak train on the day I wanted it. The bus also had three transfers at its own stations. Amtrak? Well, there was at least one transfer where I had to arrange my own ride to get to my next connection. This is why no one uses Amtrak.

I get headache when I see why I am paying taxes. Where and how they spend my hard earned money.

3:47 In case you're wondering 10 cents in 1940 (when the city took over the subway system) was $1.71 in 2016 money

The private sector is vastly superior in every way!

$2.75 on the subway now, it went up again.

If we consider both rail infrastructure and highways as public goods, then why should rail have to turn a profit but highways don’t for some reason?

Wait, they waited so long we do need the uv lights again lol.

That government employee thinks private companies don't profit from responding to people's demands 😂

I love Stossel. I followed his reporting ever since he did the flood damaged cars in Kansas City that was back when I was in college that, was in the 80s. See consistently always has good stuff from a different viewpoint always refreshing always good communication. I wish him nothing more than the best of health and many years to come.

Bridges to nowhere. Taxation is theft but the waste of our loot adds insult to injury.

"Not at this time...". Got to love that look when he admitted the trains have no private investors.

In the 1970s the Penn Central transportation company was responsible for the mass transit system. However the whole Penn Central was a mess and commuter rail was no exception so instead of reinvest and make it nice they used old beat up and broken down cars and locomotives and went into bankruptcy in 1971. When Conrail took over their still was no money in the commuter rail and they were bleeding cash like mad so the government took over instead to fix up the line. For anyone curious their is a book the men who loved trains which covered it really well.

New York to DC never cost $150 except on Acela. Regular Amtrak is like $49 tops

As always you have got it right again John. Keep up the good work!!!

Well, rail technically is the most efficient form of transportation. I visited Japan a month ago and the Tokyo subway system is a wonder, I honestly hate driving after experiencing it. However to all the Liberals, the subway system in Tokyo and the Shinkansen High Speed rail going between cities is all privately built and run :)

Americans want to make America Europe and as a European, consider reevaluating that.

Why are trains being scapegoated here and not megagighways??

and now the train project has been cancelled.

Having spent 12.5yrs in the military and now living in Milwaukee with eyes to really see the world; it amazes me of how ridiculous California is with money and nothing to show for any of it other than "nice houses".

I disagree with the notion that trains are a waste of money. They are more efficient and cleaner modes of transportation than cars. The problem is the American Gov. It is built to waste money and that's a shame. Others countries have implemented national rail systems with great success.

Most of London’s tube networks were also created by private industry, since 1860. They’re so damn good that they run incredibly well even today.

Lmao @ 4:30 - THIS did not age well. Great idea, hope they didnt get rid of them!

If high speed rail was profitable, private industry would have been doing it for years.

It’s so sad in many European country’s have their transport at the best that they can be and that they get you everywhere but America still has inefficient bad transport

Ok, so if all rail infrastructure needs to be privately funded, shouldn’t we make all of the roads private too?

Trains are also really ineffective in any place that has mountains, as trains have trouble going up a slope at 2.5%. That means you have to bore through mountains, or go really far out to go up a very shallow slope

The reason why private rail companies developed subways and street car lines was because all freight rail companies had to provide passenger service under old regs. Once those were removed private rail operators got out of the business. Most street car lines were removed. Could get rid of subway because of tunnels. As for "inefficient government workers", those were contractors that were filmed.

Those ultraviolet lights were actually way ahead of their time 😂😂

4:30 fire em up boys

Well seems like now the UV lights would be a great thing to have

I'm just glad this kind of thing isn't exclusive to my country Argentina, where populism is so widespread. We need to turn people away of their confidence on the government.

Why are we forced at gunpoint to pay for the vanity projects of politicians? If politicians want something, they should have to pay for it with their own money, just like the rest of us have to!

3 years later and they have given up on the high speed rail scam and are just running away with the money.

Convenient that Bidden is the closing speaker huh. 4 years later and he’s ready to toss us into ruins.

The California train debacle was a prime example of government corruption and inefficacy, but the government is still capable of providing infrastructure for its people. Most Americans seem to be unaware of how many foreigners are just glad that our roads work and reach everyone

The first subways in New York were public/private joint ventures. They would not have been done solely by private companies without the involvement, encouragement, and help of NY state and NY city government. Same with ten thousand other transportation projects in the early 20th century. Stossel conveniently doesn't mention any of this. Anytime someone tells you something is black and white....look for the grey.

MTA bus drivers are so rude. Makes me think they don't even have training to provide good customer service, they don't even look at you because their busy thinking about something else while they wait for everyone to board. I was boarding a Q58 in Queens, and I had a free transfer receipt from riding the subway, and I was asking for another transfer, and the driver just said "Keep it", since it was knew to riding the MTA bus, I didn't know what that meant, because last time the bus driver just gave it to me immediately, so I get the impression that your experience just depends on which driver you're dealing with. That's why I say customer service isn't consistent with the MTA, like they hired a bunch of rude people by mistake and aren't doing anything. For people who get good pensions, pay grade, and benefits, don't act like it. I don't like their attitude, but I have no choice, they're the monopoly. I work in retail in the private sector, if the customer doesn't like our services when they ask for assistance, they don't come back and associate their bad experience to the entire brand. When I have to deal with a customer, and they ask me a lot of things, as an employee of the company, I have to be the face of good customer service, I have to smile and answer their questions facing towards them with eye contact. The MTA bus driver that I was dealing with, he was talking looking at the window on his left while I was on his right trying to figure out why he won't give me the free single-ride ticket, just told me in monotone "Keep it" while he stares outside while he rubs his fingers on his lips as if he's some sort of gatekeeper that makes all the rules. I know this sounds trivial, but I just find that rude, like as if I wasn't worth his time.

Greyhound bus trips are the worst. Now riding the train. I love .

Tokyo Metro does well yet it is private

The fact that NYC subway was originally private blew my mind. Thank you.

Aww :( i guess that is the first tume i disagree with you Herr Stossel. In switzerland and japan the railroad brings people faster and saver to almost any point of the country for a moderate price. The example for Amtrsks seats being only filled for about 30%, can apply to California. But also in switzerland you got trains filled only for 20% when you dont use the rushhour trains. But as a conductor i might be biased.

(1:08) Another $100 b-b-billion? Okay, let's get this into perspective. Israel built the Sorek Desalination Plant for $500 million and it produces ONE BILLION GALLONS OF WATER EVERY WEEK. So, for that extra $100 billion, California could build 200 of these plants, and produce 600 gallons of fresh water for every person in the state -- and we are only talking about NEW water source, not the water they already have. Spend that "extra" $100 billion of water, and suddenly every citizen (and illegal) and every farmer would have plenty of water and they could allow the upper river states like Colorado take more.

I grew up in the US. Can't get anywhere without a car. Road trips are fun. Flexibility is nice. But it's pretty shitty on a day to day basis: gas is expensive and rush hour has turned into an almost ALL day affair in many major cities. I have been around the world at this point. It is like night and day being in countries with walkable neighborhoods. It's super convenient getting around without a car because a combination of high speed rail, light rail, and buses has you covered. We don't have infrastructure like this in the US but we could have. Investing in mass transit gives a huge return in increased economic activity. People can get around for work or play more easily, and they spend/generate money when doing so. So, to define mass transit as only buses is weird. Defining trains as rural boondoggles is weird to anyone who's been to Europe. This whole US conversation about mass transit is insane.

All of America's passenger railroads from the 1850's to the 1950's were all private. PRR, Erie, AT&SF, Union Pacific, etc and they provided much higher and reliable service (were actually on time or earlier) than that garbage we have today called Amtrak.

Buses do get plenty of subsidies indirectly. Who do you think maintains the roads that they buses run on?

$2.75 now! And the $0.25 fare hike was only a few years after the last one with the previous hike only a few years before that!

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha... it is so funny to watch this guy saying this things today. Thank you for that late joke!

As a frequent Amtrak commuter, i can safely say that Amtrak trains aren't packed. I take the Hiawatha service between Chicago and Milwaukee frequently, and only like 20% of the train is full when I use it

Joe Biden says "It's rail rail rail rail"

I’m really interested to see the differences between transit and Japan and the US and why bullet trains are so ridiculously successful and more useful in Japan. From the little I’ve read so far, it looks like geographic size and density are big reasons it wouldn’t make sense in the US.

A teacher at my school gave me the example of the how it takes 6 people to dig a hole and how it's just one guy digging a hole with 5 other guys staring down the hole and then they sit around and that'll be all they do for the day 😂.

I just read an article today about the planned BART extension to San Jose, CA. This extension will be 20 extra miles of rail, but it was originally planned to complete in 2014. It is now estimated to complete around 2030. I kid you not. Such incredible incompetence could only be tolerated by us Californians.

I moved to Tampa in 2004. They keep talking about high-speed rail from Orlando to Miami. It actually isn't a bad idea if they can make money from it.

Buses literally drive on publicly funded roads....l

While everywhere else outside US can make government endorse project work, why US can't?

Japan's Shinkansen/Hong Kong's MTR>>>>>>>>>>> NYC's subway

Im from that little mountain town of Tehachapi. An every year because of the new government it's looking more and more like progressive South Park. A Wal-Mart is being built this year.

When you cut funding for public services of course they'll underperform. It's the oldest trick in the book for profit seeking corporations

Running big, heavy trains for 1/3rd occupancy is an environmental disaster no way that unsubsidized businesses would do that! So subsidies are an environmental nightmare.

Govt officials have to lie so they can still be paid, the reality is private industry always does it better. They have to be competitive and government doesn't have to. This GND would be a total nightmare to America, Ocasio-Cortez wants all the buildings from Manhattan to Los Angeles torn down and replaced even historical ones like Victorian era and churches older than the country. It took over 10 years to build the eastern span of the Bay Bridge and who knows how the GND can be done in 10 years and their official budget is $100 Trillion when reality is that the number could be much higher.

Good job john been watching u from when u did world news tonite.

Amazing clip of the great leader at the end! 😂

John Stossel for Congress, Senate, and Presidency. Just get rid of all the reps and senators. Just replace them all with John Stossel.

Let the private sector do it so it gets done. Only way it will get done.

It cost $3b Australian dollars to build a 10 km long light rail in Sydney. This would cost hundreds of billions, maybe even trillions

Why don't they make trains that cars and buses can be transported on?

I live next to a Q Train stop. Every time I pass by I remember for how much of my childhood it was under construction.

Buses do get big subsidies. Or do they build their own roads?

Private contractors are just well connected individuals who get no bid bloated contracts and in return kickback donations to politicians.

Where I live the roads are pothole strewn but the city funded replacing 1/2 mile of fine bike path with a bike path. Every month the completion date gets pushed back 2 months. Days go by with nobody working. Where I once lived a large shopping center was put in. Raw land to stores opening was 90 days. Public projects vs. private projects.

Rail,works because if you consider the cost of more roads they are the cheapest option. By a country mile

This is going to shock most readers but the California High speed Rail project is now significantly delayed, way over budget, and significantly lacking in the land needed to complete the project. Original “estimates” were about $30 billion to complete, the estimates now are around $100 billion. Your tax dollars hard at work folks.

It's funny how stuff worked better without politicians and people keep regurgitating the opposite. Take as an example Argentina, that's one of the example of how the intrusion of government can ruin a country.

Hard as it may be to believe the train system is a national defense necessity.. It is the most efficient way to move heavy equipment across the country in times on emergency.. A good example is the Iraq invasion of Kuwait .. The equipment wasnt flown to Saudi Arabia.. It was taken to ports by train and shipped there because of its weight. Train travel should be booming with all the Green Supporters.. I suppose like John Kerry they need to fly to get places..

There's a familiar sequence. Private sector does something people don't like --> Government takes it over --> Government does a far worse job.

rail is the cheapest way to transport people and good on land, ships are the cheapest way to transport people and goods on the ocean, Airplanes are the most expensive with the exception of going to space. We cannot expand roads forever, parking lots waste alot of space, sadly most cities are not built for mass transit they are car friendly and everyone else can complain with no effect.

now the UV lights in the old trains would be useful again!

Amtrak sucks because it's outdated, leases the shared track lines it's using, is run and funded similar to the post office, and needs to be completely privatized to compete with air travel and buses. Though I admit the high speed rail project in California looks bad, really bad, this catastrophe still has the potential to become what Japan did for its country with rail. If you know the back story with Japan's high speed rail, the outlook was glim, and the leads of the project resigned for having well exceeded proposed budget plans at the time. Looking back, the project was the biggest unexpected success story Japan has ever seen in transport, and it's only taken off since then. I believe California needs this blunder in order to convince taxpayers with those first initial rides that future rail line can be built to be more economically viable and can be a clean travel alternative to electric cars, which actually aren't very clean anyways EDIT; (think battery disposal and production).

The train is nice. I like Amtrak, however there are many more private infrastructure ideas that are much better. Ford's Chariot was one of them. I hope that returns. I think Evan Williams had a bus idea also. I think the private sector gets too ambitious with aesthetics because they can, that's why some of them don't make it long term. If the ride is similar to charter bus and more comfortable than a city bus, you are already winning. Megabus is good but their customer service is crap. There was a bus called FlixBus where you can get from SF to LA for $14 with movies. It's an 8 -10 hour journey but that is the cheapest price available anywhere. I think with long travel comfort is important. People forget to stay to the basics and build as they go a long (points of interest along the way, building relationships with smaller businesses along the routes, etc).

HEEEEYYY, it's creepy Joe Biden at the end.

Si, great content as always!