California's Bullet Train Boondoggle

California voters approved the now-infamous high-speed-rail project in 2008; it was projected to cost some $33 billion and was to encompass some 800 miles, connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco, and the Central Valley to coastal cities, with an expected completion date of 2020. As I recall, the feasibility study for this project assumed that revenues from the LA-SF segment alone would exceed revenues from all other Amtrak lines in the country. After 17 years and over $15 billion in spending, not a single mile of track has been laid. Projected costs have tripled, and the scope of what is left of the project will deliver a 119-mile segment in the Central Valley, with no connection of SF or So. California. 

It is a manifest failure, and a monument to the fantasy that modern government can successfully and efficiently undertake complex projects. In just two decades, and for a tiny fraction of the cost of California's bullet-train boondoggle, Elon Musk's SpaceX has proved that point, going from zero to wildly successful and profitable, leapfrogging all other nation-sponsored space undertakings in the process. 

My good friend, talented artist, and fellow free-market advocate Nuni Cademartori has penned the cartoon which follows. May this boondoggle never be repeated, and may it swiftly be put out of its misery!

For more of Nuni's editorial artwork, check out my posts using this link. 

P.S. And may Gavin Newsom NEVER become president of the U.S.!