Where is our Hoover Dam?

Unfortunately I feel in the dark when it comes to our economy and what our government is doing to fix it. The nation has been in limbo waiting for a new president to take charge and turn everything around and now we are waiting while our government decides on where the money goes. We have been here before and know what works. It would be dumb of me not to mention that every situation is different so following exactly what was done in the past isn't the way to go either, but the ideas are there.

During the great depression the government used cheap labor and the need to build jobs to create an infrastructure of technology and clean energy that would propel our nation forward into the age of enlightenment. Why are we bailing out banks who gave bad loans, bailing out car companies who don't make cars people want or need and giving everyone a golden ticket for handouts from the government and not asking what this will accomplish for the future as well as the present?

The Hoover Dam was the largest construction project ever dreamed up in that day. Providing renewable energy was not a priority, fossil fuels were cheap and thought to be endless. The mission was creating jobs and providing a vast area for the expansion of farming as well as power for potential urban growth. Without customers waiting or a huge need for the dam, the government created a project that would make a better future and succeeded. Where is our Hoover Dam?

Most of the worlds population is driven by oil, a dwindling resource that is controlled by nations who have no interest in the well being of America.

Car manufactures will never put the money into developing a viable answer to the need for gasoline without intervention and funding from the government, not to mention American car companies don't have enough money to keep their doors open these days. Instead of a "bail out" plan, we need a plan to utilize these marvels of production in the quest for a cheaper form of transportation not reliant on fossil fuels. The project will create jobs, keep American currency in our economy as well as create a product to export worldwide.

This solution brings a larger issue into the picture, but with great potential for our economy. We go to a gas station to get gas, where are we going to go to get our new fuel? Which came first the chicken or the egg? I don't know either, and I'm just as lost on how we solve this problem without a federal plan. Why develop a product that people can't use to lack of fuel and why develop a fuel that has no products to use it. Building a national infrastructure of fueling stations or adapting existing stations to provide a fossil free fuel will be expensive, but will provide countless jobs.

Staying on the transportation theme I would love to see the investment and use of actual high speed trains. We "bail out" airline companies and spend millions to billions of dollars trying to make them safer and more efficient. Here's the answer, Trains! When you factor in the 3 hours your supposed to arrive early for a flight to get through security most train rides will be faster. Even the existing high speed trains are limited to around 85 miles per hour. In Europe the high speed trains are traveling 150 mph, and Japan 185 mph. Trains consume less fuel, the don't drop if a bird flies into it's engine and you can't fly them into a building.