Adam+&+Kashif

1AC: Plan

The United States federal government should substantially increase its investment in high speed rail in the United States.

1AC: Inherency

Contention 1 is Inherency: Federal funding is empirically key to covering HSR upfront costs - %248 billion Recovery Act pledge is only a small fraction of what we need Fleming, ~’09 – Director of Physical Infrastructure Issues of the Government Accountability Office ("High Speed Passenger Rail: Effectively Using Recovery Act Funds for High Speed Rail Projects" Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchang Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security, Committee on Commerse, Science and Transportation, U.S. Senate, June 23 2009, p. 2-3, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09786t.pdf) // SP

Once projects are deemed economically viable, project sponsors face the challenging tasks of securing AND and the absence of an established institutional framework for coordination and decision making. 1AC: Economy Contention 2 is the Economy: We~’ll isolate 3 internal links 1st is stimulus Eileen, 4-27, "Blame Budget Austerity for Poor GDP Growth," http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/economic-intelligence/2012/04/27/blame-budget-austerity-for-poor-gdp-growth As the Obama administration~’s 2009 stimulus continues to wind down, the effects on the AND States has control over its economic policies. It should not choose austerity. Investment in HSR will provide a key stimulus and no crowd-out-it catalyzes private investment and creates millions of green jobs Williams 11 (Mantil is a Writer and researcher for the APTA, or American Public Transportation Association. The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is a nonprofit international association of 1,500 public and private member organizations, engaged in the areas of bus, paratransit, light rail, commuter rail, subways, waterborne services, and intercity and high-speed passenger rail "Federal Investment in High-Speed Rail Could Spur 1.3 Million Jobs " http://www.apta.com/mediacenter/pressreleases/2011/Pages/110406_HSR_Business.aspx-http://www.apta.com/mediacenter/pressreleases/2011/Pages/110406_HSR_Business.aspx
 * The economy is stalling-it needs 2.5% growth to maintain employment-only stimulus solves and their turns are false**
 * Applebaum 12** - *PhD, Professor @ Rutgers, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) released a report detailing the enormous impact AND the federal and state governments to ensure these projects get off the ground."

No turns-HSR is cheaper than highways and empirically covers its costs
APTA ~’12 – non-profit that advocates for the advancement of public transportation programs in the U.S. ( "An Inventory of the Criticisms of High-Speed Rail: with Suggested Responses and Counterpoints," January 2012, p. 10, http://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/HSR-Defense.pdf) // SP

The cost per mile of building rail that may eventually evolve to be high- AND highway construction, maintenance, and operations. worthy of federal infrastructure support.

2nd is Congestion Deficient and congested U.S. infrastructure is undermining our global competitiveness and risks economic collapse Building America~’s Future, 11 – a bipartisan coalition of elected officials dedicated to bringing about a new era of U.S. investment in infrastructure that enhances our nation~’s prosperity and quality of life. ("Falling Apart and Falling Behind", Transportation Infrastructure Report, http://www.bafuture.com/sites/default/files/Report_0.pdf-http://www.bafuture.com/sites/default/files/Report_0.pdf )

Rebuilding America~’s economic foundation is one of the most important missions we face in the AND using the radar-based air traffic control system developed in the 1950s.

Building HSR is essential to our future competition – congestion increases the relative costs of US goods Yaro, ~’10 – president of the Regional Plan Association, a policy, research and advocacy group, and Professor of Practice in City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania (Robert D. "An Investment We Have to Make," New York Times, October 14 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/10/13/will-we-ever-have-high-speed-trains/an-investment-we-have-to-make) // AMG For these reasons Japan, China, Taiwan and Europe — and now Brazil, AND But it~’s one that will be essential to our future mobility and competitiveness.

HSR allows access to markets, boosts employment on either end, and has a direct correlation with GDP –thorough statistical study proves Ahlfeldt 12 ( Gabriel M Ahlfeldt, the Department of Geography and Environment at LSE, "New research shows that high-speed rail does deliver economic growth", The London School of Economics and Political Science, [], 13 Sep 2010, HLR)

High-speed rail lines bring clear and significant economic benefits to the communities they AND scale infrastructure projects and will help governments to define future spending priorities.~’

HSR improves mobility-separate internal link to competitiveness
Todorovich, Schned, and Lane, 2011 – Director, and associate planner, of America 2050- a national urban planning initiative to develop an infrastructure and growth strategy for the U.S. (Petra, Daniel, and Robert, "High-Speed Rail: International Lessons for U.S. Policy Makers", Policy Focus Report- Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, September 2011, http://www.lincolninst.edu/pubs/dl/1948_1268_High-Speed Rail PFR_Webster.pdf // (AMG) The time savings and increased mobility offered by high-speed rail enables workers in AND outside of expensive city centers (Stolarick, Swain, and Adleraim 2010).

US economic competitiveness prevents multiple scenarios for global nuclear conflicts Friedberg %26 Schoenfeld 8 (Aaron Friedberg is a professor of politics and international relations at Princeton University~’s Woodrow Wilson School. Gabriel Schoenfeld, senior editor of Commentary, is a visiting scholar at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, N.J., "The Dangers of a Diminished America," Wall Street Journal, Ocbtober 21, 2008,http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455074012352571.html]

With the global financial system in serious trouble, is America~’s geostrategic dominance likely to AND . The economic crisis could be the straw that breaks the camel~’s back.

1AC: Oil Contention 3 is Oil: Evidence of peak oil is mounting –peak oil is already a reality in 61% of the oil-producing world Perl, ~’10 – Director of Urban Studies Program at Simon Fraser University (Anthony, "Integrating HSR into North America~’s Next Mobility Transition," June 16, 2010, p. 13016, http://wagner.nyu.edu/rudincenter/publications/RCWP_Perl.pdf) // SP

Despite an ongoing debate regarding the exact timing of a peak in global oil production AND thus considerable likelihood of future price increases in transport fuels derived from oil. Oil dependence will only grow in the coming decades and increasingly threatens Middle East war-Iraq proves– reducing dependence now is key Collina 5 - Executive Director of 20-20 Vision [Tom Z. Collina, Executive Director of 20-20Vision; testimony in front of Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs United States Senate "Oil Dependence and U.S. Foreign Policy: Real Dangers, Realistic Solutions". October 19, 2005 []]

More conflicts in the Middle East America imports almost 60% of its oil today AND take a giant step toward that goal by reducing our dependence on oil.

Middle East war goes global and nuclear Primakov 9 [September, Yevgeny, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation; Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; member of the Editorial Board of Russia in Global Affairs. This article is based on the scientific report for which the author was awarded the Lomonosov Gold Medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2008, "The Middle East Problem in the Context of International Relations"] The Middle East conflict is unparalleled in terms of its potential for spreading globally. AND seems that President Obama~’s position does not completely rule out such a possibility.

Also escalates every flashpoint-specifically, it causes US-China war and Russian influence on Ukraine.
Mark Rosen ( Deputy General Counsel at the Center for Naval Analyses %26 Professor of Homeland Security Law and Policy at George Washington University ) 2010 "Energy Independence and Climate Change: The Economic and National Security Consequences of Failing to Act" University of Richmond Law Review, Lexis There is a growing consensus in U.S. national security circles that American AND the waters of the environmentally sensitive Indonesian archipelago would be held hostage. 110

US China war causes extinction
THE high-intensity scenario postulates a cross-strait war escalating into a full AND should that come to pass, we would see the destruction of civilisation.
 * Straits Times** 2K

Russian influence on Ukraine increasing and causes Crimean secession—the impact is world war THE GUARDIAN 8 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/16/ukraine.russia) In the harbour, elderly ladies in floral swimming costumes bob in the warm lilac AND and language, and, its critics say, the views of Moscow. Teliatnikova rejects the suggestion that her organisation is a Kremlin front. "This is our land. My father and uncle fought for this territory during the Great Patriotic War [the second world war]. Why should we leave?" she said. "Nobody asked us whether we wanted to live in Ukraine. None of us are intending to go anywhere." There is no clear evidence to suggest that Russia has, as Kiev suggests, been doling out passports to ethnic Russians living in Crimea. But Moscow has been stepping up its influence : the flag of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party sits in Raisa~’s office, situated above a dancing club and next to an acting school. Earlier this summer the party agreed to finance the Russian community~’s newspaper - a small but insidious step.

Shifting away from oil in the next 10 years is key and HSR is the only realistic option for doing so – key to avoiding a global oil war Perl 11 (Anthony, Director of Urban Studies Program at Simon Fraser University, interviewed by Mark a staff writer for CNN.com, "How green is high-speed rail?" http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/18/world/how-green-is-hsr/index.html Nov 19)

Grid-connected traction offers the only realistic option for significantly reducing oil use in AND Shinkansen, in 1964, the utility of electric trains was greatly extended. HSR is the single most powerful thing we can do to get the U.S. off oil – combination of renewable sources can be used for power USHSR NO DATE (The US High Speed Rail Association is the leading company in the study of HSR. "Energy Security" [])

Building an electrically-powered national high speed rail network across America is the single AND with our sprawling community designs that force people into cars for every trip.

1AC: Solvency

HSR is empirically profitable but public funding is essential to getting the system up and running – New Jersey, France, and Spain prove
APTA, ~’12 – non-profit that advocates for the advancement of public transportation programs in the U.S. ( "An Inventory of the Criticisms of High-Speed Rail: with Suggested Responses and Counterpoints," January 2012, p. 8, http://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/HSR-Defense.pdf) // SP

As to the French TGV and the Japanese Shinkansen, there have been many valuable AND Tokyo to Osaka—have covered their initial costs of construction through fares.

HSR will be vastly superior to Amtrak – and even its ridership numbers are on the rise
APTA, ~’12 – non-profit that advocates for the advancement of public transportation programs in the U.S. ( "An Inventory of the Criticisms of High-Speed Rail: with Suggested Responses and Counterpoints," January 2012, p.18-19, http://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/HSR-Defense.pdf) // SP

In attacking Amtrak, two of Mr. Samuelson~’s main complaints were that: ( AND 1 percent, and long-distance trains up 5.6 percent.

States empirically accept funding and polls and Amtrak prove ridership would be huge
APTA, ~’12 – non-profit that advocates for the advancement of public transportation programs in the U.S. ( "An Inventory of the Criticisms of High-Speed Rail: with Suggested Responses and Counterpoints," January 2012, p. 30, http://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/HSR-Defense.pdf) // SP In the case of Florida, where, with the nudging of the Reason Foundation AND speed rail service for leisure or business travel if it were an option.

HSR will die without federal support-California proves
Wood 12 ( Daniel is a Staff Writer for the Christian Science Monitor. "Jerry Brown~’s Waterloo Station? California high-speed rail takes a new hit." http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2012/0410/Jerry-Brown-s-Waterloo-Station-California-high-speed-rail-takes-a-new-hit April 10, 2012) CANOVA Some political analysts dismiss the significance of the probe. "I don~’t suspect that AND one of the plan~’s most vocal supporters. That could leave him exposed.