General Motors (USA) 1949 - Fine Gael (Ireland) 2011

OurLadyofKnock

In 1946, Edwin J. Quinby alerted transportation officials across the country to what he called "a careful, deliberately planned campaign to swindle you out of your most important and valuable public utilities—your Electric Railway System". GM and other companies were subsequently convicted in 1949 of conspiring to monopolize the sale of buses and related products via a complex network of linked holding companies including National City Lines and Pacific City Lines. They were also indicted, but acquitted of conspiring to monopolize the ownership of these companies. In the period from 1936 and 1950, both National City Lines and Pacific City Lines were involved in the conversion of over 100 electric surface-traction systems into bus systems in 45 cities including Baltimore, Los Angeles (mainly the "Yellow Cars"), New York City, Oakland and San Diego.

Only a few US cities have surviving effective rail-based urban transport systems based on tram, metro, or elevated train; notable survivors include New York City and to a lesser extent Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Washington D.C. and Chicago.

By the time of the 1973 oil crisis, controversial new testimony was presented to a United States Senate inquiry into the causes of the decline of transit car systems in the US. This alleged that there was a wider conspiracy—by GM in particular—to destroy effective public transport systems in order to increase sales of automobiles and that this was implemented with great effect to the detriment of many cities.

There is now general agreement that GM and other companies were indeed actively involved in a largely unpublicized program to purchase many streetcar systems and convert them to buses.

DWCommuter

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)

Remember that film set in 1930s LA? Its plot revolved around a businessman buying out the streetcar company so he could close it down and build a Freeway. This was essentially a kids film, but its social commentary reflected the obvious bad feeling towards Americaaays descent into car hell.

Eddie Valiant: (Bob Hoskins) " LA has the best public transport in the world".

OurLadyofKnock

DWCommuter wrote: »

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)

Remember that film set in 1930s LA? Its plot revolved around a businessman buying out the streetcar company so he could close it down and build a Freeway. This was essentially a kids film, but its social commentary reflected the obvious bad feeling towards Americaaays descent into car hell.

Eddie Valiant: (Bob Hoskins) " LA has the best public transport in the world".

I have never seen that film. But yes the Pacific Electric was an a superb public transport system until the Rockefeller family who owned Standard Oil along with GM and Goodyear destroyed it and nearly all the others including the ones in South America.

The same cabal even drew up a plan with the CIA for the turning of the Moscow Metro in an "underground freeway" with a McDonald's franchise. I am not joking. It was to happen when the USSR was defeated.

Interestingly David Rockefeller of that same psychopathic bloodline was in Dublin for the Tri-Laterial meeting back in May which RTE never covered even though this was one of the most important events in the history of Ireland. This is were the IMF loans and the bail outs and reforms were all planned which has destroyed this country and made us tax animals on a globalist tax farm for the next century at least.

RTE which is allegedly to be our "national" boradcaster refused to cover this event. Look how Pat Kenny reacted when it was mentioned to him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhSp-EnXOZ4

The next time you hear someone joke about this stuff being "conspiricy theory" and guffaws in a D4 accent. Punch the **** in the mouth.

Ireland is no longer free. The metro/DU was cancelled in May when our masters arrived. It is only going to get worse from here.

Nevermind RTE have a new series of The Premiership for the plebs to get all emotional over...

DWCommuter

OurLadyofKnock wrote: »

I have never seen that film. But yes the Pacific Electric was an a superb public transport system until the Rockefeller family who owned Standard Oil along with GM and Goodyear destroyed it and nearly all the others including the ones in South America.

The same cabal even drew up a plan with the CIA for the turning of the Moscow Metro in an "underground freeway" with a McDonald's franchise. I am not joking. It was to happen when the USSR was defeated.

Interestingly David Rockefeller of that same psychopathic bloodline was in Dublin for the Tri-Laterial meeting back in May which RTE never covered even though this was one of the most important events in the history of Ireland. This is were the IMF loans and the bail outs and reforms were all planned which has destroyed this country and made us tax animals on a globalist tax farm for the next century at least.

RTE which is allegedly to be our "national" boradcaster refused to cover this event. Look how Pat Kenny reacted when it was mentioned to him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhSp-EnXOZ4

The next time you hear someone joke about this stuff being "conspiricy theory" and guffaws in a D4 accent. Punch the **** in the mouth.

Ireland is no longer free. The metro/DU was cancelled in May when our masters arrived. It is only going to get worse from here.

Nevermind RTE have a new series of The Premiership for the plebs to get all emotional over...

What a pity that so many do not want to accept this.

DWCommuter

This clip from the movie I mention explains all you have alluded to. Listen carefully to the dialogue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gURUMv7qZW0

spideog7

Isn't there an appropriate forum here for conspiracy theories?

Any credible references on this? Quick search found nothing worth reading

dubhthach

spideog7 wrote: »

Isn't there an appropriate forum here for conspiracy theories?

Any credible references on this? Quick search found nothing worth reading

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Streetcar_Scandal

Fair number of references, links at bottom of that. Including to court cases where Federal government took cases alleging the building of monopolies in the transport sector (buying up street-car companies -- before they were shut)

dowlingm

I'm still waiting for a linkage to Fine Gael 2011 (or more accurately FGLab2011)

spideog7

Thanks for the Wikipedia link honestly couldn't find that last night when I searched. While I'm sure big business were working to their own end (no doubt the same is still happening today) here's what I see as one of the most important quotes from that article:

A number of analyses have suggested that the eventual replacement of electric-powered street cars with buses was inevitable and indeed occurred within the same time-frame in many other places where National City Lines did not have an involvement.[n 15] It has been estimated that nationwide, the ultimate reach of the alleged conspirators extended to only about 10 percent of all transit systems—sixty-odd out of some six hundred—and yet virtually all the other 90 percent also got rid of trolleys (as happened with many of the tramcar systems in the British Isles and France)."

Of course that doesn't justify the approach taken by the major corporations but it means you can't blame them for everything that happened.

I also don't see an link to Fine Gael, we don't particularly have any infrastructure like that to be destroyed, let alone any that has been destroyed in the past month they've been in power.

Amtmann

DWCommuter wrote: »

This clip from the movie I mention explains all you have alluded to. Listen carefully to the dialogue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gURUMv7qZW0

I wish Judge Doom was the Minister for Transport

OurLadyofKnock

spideog7 wrote: »

Isn't there an appropriate forum here for conspiracy theories?

Any credible references on this? Quick search found nothing worth reading

People like you are always psychologically facinating to me. You get presented with something which your never encountered before and you instantly brand it "conspiracy theory" and demand it be removed from others knowledge base too.

Have you considered becoming a journalist. Your instinctual cognative disonace in the face of new facts would be perfect.

Amtmann

OurLadyofKnock wrote: »

People like you are always psychologically facinating to me. You get presented with something which your never encountered before and you instantly brand it "conspiracy theory" and demand it be removed from others knowledge base too.

Have you considered becoming a journalist. Your instinctual cognative disonace in the face of new facts would be perfect.

Folks, let's tread softly here. The above post could be construed as overly personal. While this may or may not be a "conspiracy", it's definitely veering away from infrastructure. If people want to talk in depth about economics, politics or psychology, please do so in the appropriate forums.

DWCommuter

Tremelo wrote: »

I wish Judge Doom was the Minister for Transport

You Road junky!:D

dubhthach

With Regards to Streetcars in the US. What's interesting now adays of course is the construsction of new light-rail systems. I recall been in Seattle in 2007 when they were building both the link to the Airport (mostly segrated light rail) as well as the "South Lake Union Streetcar" which was a project been pushed by Paul Allen (Microsoft co-founder)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Lake_Union_Streetcar

Even Detroit the home of the automobile is planning on opening a streetcar line from city centre to nearest Amtrack line