Oregon Executive Club

Not long after we beat the British,
and then again for the second time,
we bought our first trains from them.
Crates of freight expressed no emotion,
but for passengers, it was instant love.
Rails went everywhere, connecting oceans.

100 years later, we began an affair
-- with airflight --
that has continued ever since.

But we seem to feel guilty about it,
because we keep trying to keep passenger
trains alive by sheer force of law,
even though technology has long since
moved on... and up into the sky.

Advocates point to more compact Europe.
Critics point to unending losses and
empty trains.

Keep subsidizing, or let the memories
and museums tell the end of the story?

How about that, America? Let's hear
from a fellow who knows transportation
better than anybody, and loves liberty:

Randal O'Toole

Randal has been studying transportation
as part of growth for decades, and has
written 4 books on the planning and growth,
as well policy papers like "Great Rail
Disasters: An Analysis of Rail Transit
Systems in the U.S."

Government brings romantic memories of
passenger rail to the discussion.

Randal brings data.

Join us Wednesday Night!

Executive Club passes on meeting followup information as a courtesy to our speakers and members. Any member or speaker may submit, by email, a simple update text presentation to be sent to the club mailing list, to give the membership to have more details, or just a recap of your platform presentation. To be considered for publication, please be sure to submit your update within 24 hours of the close of the meeting. Please don't include any pictures in your text, but links to web pages, or links to things stored elsewhere on the web -- .pdf files, Word documents, or even pictures -- are OK now. Formatting and inserted pictures will not be copied, just the text content, so please don't use 4 fonts and 6 colors to convey your thoughts: you will be disappointed. Look at a previous followup email, or the bottom of most of the invitation emails, to see how they are presented. The simpler and cleaner your text, the more likely it will appear exactly the same in the email we send out. Each update must also indicate the author's name and contact information -- either a phone number, email address, or website with contact information. We reserve the right to edit for brevity, or reject, any submission.

The Freedom Foundation is a regional think and action tank dedicated to removing government unions influence on the political cycle.

Since the Janus decision back in June we’ve assisted over 6,500 public employees in leaving their union. This has had a significant impact on the unions' revenue.

We’ve also filed 2 federal class action lawsuits, Anderson and Chambers. If successful, both will have significant financial penalties to the unions in Oregon.

This video may provide a platform for understanding as least some of Randal O'Toole's presentation at the Executive Club on December 5th.

It may even prepare us to shine a light on Oregon's put-on-the-blinders approach to transportation.

Watch this 30 minute C-SPAN interview of Reason Foundation's Robert Poole:

Mr. Poole covers the subject from 30,000 feet to asphalt level, East to West.

Cheers, Larry

Read the December 2018 MHRW Newsletter

Next Meeting is Wednesday, December 12, 2018, at Elmer's Restaurant 1590 NE Burnside Rd, Gresham, OR 97030 (503-665-5144)

Business Meeting begins at 11:30am, followed at 12:15pm with our Annual Christmas Auction.
(arrive early to tag your auction donations, claim a seat, look over the array of sale items, visit with friends, and order from the delicious full service menu).