Fellow seniors - what do you think of China building the bullet train?

The Chinese are smart people. Cheap, fast, nationwide transportation from city center to city center, without huge wasteful airports, Fatherland Security Gestapo, or religious fundamentalists using airplanes as bombs.

I just watched a documentary on the production of the new "Virginia class" nuclear subs that the U.S. began to build in the 1990s AFTER the Cold War was over and there was no longer any conceivable need for such weapons. The documentary was one of the most Orwellian things I've ever seen. The dramatic tension that carried the piece along was the question of whether the military industrial complex, in particular General Dynamics and Northrup Grumman, could "succeed" in getting Congress to waste gazillions of the taxpayer's dollars on the most titanic and useless boondoggle of the modern era.

And sure enough, in the end, all the greed and stupidity and corruption of the right-wing U.S. government and the weapons contractors were rewarded with flag waving and champagne. The money was wasted after all! HOORAY! HOORAY! HOORAY!

I saw the bullet train on Chinese (English speaking) news last night. Very interesting train.

USA is the best at building bullets, bombs, and battle ships.

And we LOVE our cars.

So no bullet trains for the USA!

The Chinese have had bullet trains for 6 years now. They have the fastest train ( the Maglev train in Shanghai) and the longest route train which just opened. I was on their Maglev train in October - at 250 miles per hour it is the fastest train ever built. The Chinese are very sensible, making high-speed mass-transit travel a good option for the citizens .

I'd love it if this was available in all countries - Asia and Europe use bullet trains extensively ...why not everywhere ? Probable reason would be airline and automotive lobby groups interfering with decision making, I'd say.

Actually they're building more bullets, bombs and battle ships than we are, in addition to the train, that's part of the problem.

I imagine the Chinese can build anything they want to. They have the money, while we have a huge debt. I'm waiting for them to call in their markers, and then we won't be able to build battle ships. We won't have bullets or bombs either. I don't trust them.

It makes us look primative while boding well for the Chinese. They need high speed transportation with a population of 1 billion, 400 million. Those bullet trains can also be used to move troops where ever needed in the country.

I'd hope that it's market-oriented.

Oh yeah, they're also building - Bullets, Bombs & Battle Ships

Perhaps they can show us the way. California voters just approved a San Francisco to Los Angeles bullet train.

For the last 20 years or more, the West has inappropriately branded Asia as the 3rd world, with all the stereotypical images - - developing world is more appropriate - and in some places, you might see it as future world - if things go well for the West.

Just think of all the cool stuff they can make as we continue to purchase from them all of this crazy plastic stuff (toys and doodads) with which we then fill our landfills and pollute our oceans with. And they laugh all the way to the bank. And we probably just buy the "bullets, bombs & battleships" from them too...