Comments on: Wisconsin Economic Forecast Luncheon

By: Dan from Madison

Dan from Madison — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:40:21 +0000

-20 temp, -50 wind chill when I came to work today Shannon – nothing beats fresh air first thing in the morning!

By: Shannon Love

Shannon Love — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:23:32 +0000

And I had to walk a block in the blistering -15 cold to boot.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Since when does temperature come in negative numbers? Ya’ll got some funny ways up north.

By: Tatyana

Tatyana — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:24:08 +0000

Speaking of pedals: yesterday, while seating in a cafe in midtown Manhattan and watching fascinating live rescue on wall TV, I heard a woman at the next table sighing: “From now on, I only travel by bike…”

By: Jay Manifold

Jay Manifold — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:22:05 +0000

Don’t give them ideas.

By: pst314

pst314 — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:05:43 +0000

Speaking of mass-transit fantasies, did you ever see this? Sometime back in the 1980′s there was an issue of the Whole Earth Catalog magazine (or whatever they were calling it at the time) which featured a painting of happy commuters boarding a pedal-powered train.

By: Jay Manifold

Jay Manifold — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:21:16 +0000

Sounds like we’re all being pushed around by an entrenched class of clueless parasites, which unfortunately isn’t stop-the-presses news.

By: Dan from Madison

Dan from Madison — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:25:58 +0000

We have been hearing a lot of politicos wanting light rail here in Madison for several years now…talk about a boondoggle. There are only 210k people in the city for goodness sake.

As for Milwaukee, that downtown area is so tiny compared to a Chicago. So much of the work seems to be spread out to the outlying communities – where would you start with rail with that? Do you expect someone to take a train and then walk a mile in the -15 weather to get to their jobsite? It isn’t like there is a skyscraper with 5k people working in it in downtown Waukesha or Brookfield. Insane stuff to be sure.

By: pst314

pst314 — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:20:21 +0000

“This idea has been thrown around for at least 20 years and it pretty nuts if you ask me.”

I agree. I also keep hearing calls for a commuter rail system in Milwaukee, although there are not nearly enough commuters to make it economically feasible. A great way to waste other people’s money. Such schemes seem like religious fetishes waved by modern-day cargo cultists: If we build just one more fake airstrip then peace and prosperity will magically arrive.