State Senator Bob Huff, who represents Monrovia, said he likes high-speed rail in concept, but with details of the LA-to-San Francisco plan now public, "I can no longer support this project as it is now framed." He said it costs too much ($98.5 billion), would not be finished until 2033, and early construction would be "far away from the state’s major population centers." He says the project needs to be scaled back or modified: http://goo.gl/0q13g
- Brad Haugaard
The lesson of Solyndra applies to the HSR dream of CA politicians: nobody responsible for earning a return on investment will put money into it because they cannot see how it can succeed economcally. Said another way, government allocates capital to such projects because they can take money from taxpayers under duress, with little personal accountability, and there is no other way they can see their vision come to pass, A private sector CEO would be fired for investing in a deal like this. Poliricians go to the opening photo ops, blathr about their "vision" and leave it to taxpayers to pay for the mistake. Eisenhower built the Interstate system, but it created/enabled multiple private sector enterprises which created income streams which paid for the investment multiple times. HSR is not that kind of deal. It will not create continuing income streams to pay for itself. The proposed first leg ridership assumption is that 30% of the population at one end will ride daily to the other. Why would that happen because of HSR? It won't, which means the system will operate at a loss, draining taxpayers in a state with the highest tax load in the country, already. Economic suicide, but typical for "progressives". Hopefully Brown will ultimately find the idea impossible to fund. Think of all the money illegal aliens need for college, that will get sopped up by this failure. Priorities, Jerry...priorities....
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