Kashif+and+Adam

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

 * Contention 1 is Inherency: **
 * Federal funding is empirically key to covering HSR upfront costs - $8 billion Recovery Act pledge is only a small fraction of what is needed **
 * __ 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

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 ... It //should not choose// austerity.
 * __Once projects are deemed economically...__** coordination and decision making.
 * Contention 2 is the Economy: **
 * We’ll isolate 3 internal links **
 * 1st is stimulus **
 * 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
 * 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__]

The American Public Transportation Association .... get off the ground.”

**No turns-HSR is cheaper than highways and empirically covers its costs**

 * __ American Public Transportation Association, ’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 ... worthy of federal infrastructure support.


 * 2nd is Congestion **
 * Crumbling 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__] )


 * __Rebuilding America’s economic foundation ...__** // system developed in the 1950s. //

For these reasons **__Japan, China, ...__** **__our future mobility and competitiveness__****//. //**
 * 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


 * 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 ...__** to define future spending priorities.'

**HSR improves mobility-separate internal link to competitiveness**
The time savings and ... of expensive city centers (Stolarick, Swain, and Adleraim 2010).
 * __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)


 * US economic competitiveness prevents multiple scenarios for global nuclear conflicts **
 * __Friedberg & 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... //// straw that breaks the camel's back. //


 * 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 ...__****__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 ... **__our dependence on__** **__oil.__**

The __Middle East conflict is ...__ completely rule out such a possibility.
 * 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”]

__ **Independently, dependence increases the probability of escalation at every flashpoint-Specifically, it causes US-China war and Russian influence on Ukraine** __
__ **Rosen 10** __ (Mark, Deputy General Counsel at the Center for Naval Analyses & Professor of Homeland Security Law and Policy at George Washington University ) “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...sensitive Indonesian archipelago would be held hostage. 110

US China war causes extinction
Straits Times **2K** THE high-intensity scenario postulates a... would see the destruction of civilisation.

In the harbour, elderly .... community's newspaper - __ a small but insidious step __.
 * Russian influence on Ukraine causes Crimean secession—the impact is world war **
 * THE GUARDIAN 8 ** (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/16/ukraine.russia)
 * 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 ...__** 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 ...__** into cars for every trip.

HSR is empirically profitable but public funding is essential to getting the system up and running – New Jersey, France, and Spain prove

 * __ American Public Transportation Association, ’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 ... numbers are on the rise

HSR will be vastly superior to Amtrak – and even its ridership numbers are on the rise

 * __ American Public Transportation Association, ’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... trains up 5.6 percent.

States empirically accept funding and polls and Amtrak prove ridership would be huge
In the case of Florida, where...if it were an option.
 * __ American Public Transportation Association, ’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

**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 ... could leave him exposed.