Construction is beginning on California's new high-speed rail system. Anybody who has studied or been exposed to the Bay Area Rapid Transit System fully understands that we are looking at massive cost overruns, possible corruption and kickbacks, and a system that, if ever completed, may not work as it was intended. In fact, the monetary success of the project depends on the ability to force car owners to take the trains instead.
The first stage of construction, a 29-mile stretch, is already expected to cost at least $29 billion; that's $1 billion per mile!!! The original budget for the entire 200+ mile stretch project as sold to the public was $34 billion, but is likely to be close to $500 billion if it is ever finished. For one thing, they're already under construction and they haven't even negotiated purchase of the necessary parcels of land yet.
In the meantime, the state is literally drying up in more ways than one. Residents are moving to Oregon and Nevada in droves, thereby reducing the tax base. And water has become a scarce commodity in the parched, drought-stricken state. Yet, there are no dams planned in the future and no real talk or discussion about building desalinization plants.
Perrier anyone?
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