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Noam Chomsky on Technology

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Scandal that Amtrak runs at same speed as in 1950s

I happened to be giving talks in France a couple of months ago and ended up in Southern France and had to take a train from Avignon to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. It took 2 hours. The trip we took was the same distance as from Washington, DC, to Boston. I don't know if you've ever taken the train from Washington to Boston, but it's operating at about the same speed it was 60 years ago when my wife and I first took it. It's a scandal. It could be done here as it's been done in Europe. They had the capacity to do it, the skilled work force. It would have taken a little popular support, but it could have made a major change in the economy.
Source: Occupied Media, by Noam Chomsky, p. 36-7 , May 1, 2012

Federal scam: transfer funds to high-tech defense industries

There's a little scam going on here. The same people who are drilling into your head that the federal government is your enemy are also saying we have to strengthen it--but only that part of the government that pours money into their pockets. So the Heritage Foundation, the right wing foundation that, more or less, sets the budget and agenda for the right wing, wants to increase the Pentagon budget--against the will of the population. The population is opposed to that by about 6 to 1, but the Heritage Foundation wants it because they know something that you're not supposed to know. That secret is that the system is primarily functioning, and has been for 50 years, to transfer funds from the general public to advanced sectors in high-technology industries.
Source: Dialogues, by Gov. Jerry Brown, p.219 , Feb 12, 1996

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Page last updated: Oct 28, 2021