Real Change, by Rep. Newt Gingrich (R, GA): on Technology
Newt Gingrich:
NASA bureaucrats hijacked the great space adventure
One of the great disappointments of my life has been the hijacking of the great space adventure by the NASA bureaucracy. Space should be an area in which American innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship are producing constant breakthroughs that
increase our economic capability, improve our quality of life, and raise our prestige around the world. Instead, space has been hijacked by dull, inefficient, and unimaginative bureaucracies and transformed into an expensive, risk-adverse, and sad
undertaking. I propose a dramatically bolder approach. NASA currently has plans to spend twenty years getting to Mars at a cost estimated of up to $450 billion. A very significant amount of that time and money will be spent studying, planning, and
thinking. We would get much further much faster if we simply established two prizes: a tax-free $5 billion prize for the first permanent lunar base and a tax-free $20 billion prize for the first team to get to Mars and back.
Source: Real Change, by Newt Gingrich, p.187-191
Dec 18, 2007
Newt Gingrich:
Establish three high-speed rail corridors; NY-MA; FL; & CA
The French & Japanese have made substantial investments in creating high-speed rail corridors. The Chinese are now following their lead. The US has 3 corridors that are very conducive to this kind of high-speed train investment. We could build a system
between Boston and Washington; from Miami to Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville; and from San Diego to San Francisco.There are three problems with trying to build high-speed systems in the US and, not surprisingly, all three relate to government.
-
Union work rules make it impossible, at least if Amtrak has anything to do with it.
- Pork barrel politicians waste money subsidizing absurdly uneconomic routes
- Regulations and litigation involved in large-scale construction have become time-
consuming and expensive.
I support a 21st century rail system that is privately built, run efficiently, and capable of earning its own way. The US should have a railroad system that works for us, and not for the Amtrak bureaucracy and their unions.
Source: Real Change, by Newt Gingrich, p.211-212
Dec 18, 2007
Page last updated: Feb 21, 2019