Bond holders gave California authority and initial funding for a high speed railway in 2008. Since then, staying true to California nature, they’ve been lounging around doing drugs, growing marijuana plants. They will unveil 119 miles of track in 2022 — only 14 years after they were granted authority.
However, the distance between Los Angeles and San Franscicko is a lot more than a measly 119 miles. It’s approximately 381 miles. News hit the wires yesterday: it will take a lot longer to build and plenty of more fiat. Current guesstimates peg the high speed rail job at an astounding $77 billion, up 20%, and the date of completion is 2033 — 4 years longer than previous carefree guesses.
To make matters worse, they don’t have the slightest idea how they’re going to pay for the damned thing. The state received $2.5b in federal stimulus money, plus another $930m in fed handouts, and they raised $10b in a bond issuance from voters, leaving a gaping shortfall of roughly ~$65 BILLION.
That’s clown tier money — an actual joke held in the hands of a man slipping on his own furniture.
California intends to raise more money through cap and trade schemes, which is criminal activity that fines companies for using carbon, an elaborate ruse that involves extorting money from them via the sale of carbon credits. The only issue with that source of revenue is the fact that lawmakers are able to divert them at will, mostly aptly used to succor the favor of voters in order to get reelected. In other words, totally unreliable.
So the bottom line analysis is one of supreme retardation. California will spend an infinite amount of money to build a small amount of high speed rail that is going to cost a King’s Ransom, a fortune that is totally unfunded and run by lunatics who still do not know how they’re going to get it done.
Best case scenario, it will take 25 years to complete.
How does this compare to China? It doesn’t.
In 2008, when California got approval for the project, China completed 75 miles of high speed rail and it took them only 1 year to finish. Furthermore, they now have 13,670 miles of state of the art rail, more than all countries in the world combined. The cost for 13,670 miles of track was $360 billion. Juxtapose that against our $77 billion boondoggle for a pitiful 381 miles and one gets the almonds going good and one starts to think that perhaps American exceptionalism is actually a disability and not something to be displayed on a bumper sticker. Moreover, China is currently laying down track like, err, Chinamen in the US circa 19th century, with plans to add another 9,321 miles — connecting all major cities in China by 2025.
SAD!
THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS.
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this is on par with how things were done in Soviet Russia and eastern Europe communist block under bolshevik 5 year plan – nothing ever got done.
Getting things done is quite overrated in a communist economy.
but I hear La Jolla is nice this time of year.
djt to gift the state of California to North Korea
I imagine the railway will require workers and domestic steel.
driving being cheaper than shoe leather leads to low immediate need
hosting the summer Olympics catagory of waste.
We got weed to grow! No time for this train bullshit.
Regulators be coming for your toxic environmental pollution waste yo.
Selling stock futures right now is equivalent to printing free money, 10 NQ points or 4 ES points are near riskfree profits.
San Francisco reeks of urine from it’s fine homeless population. Why anyone would go there by any means is beyond me
Dude. It reeks of human shit and piss. Which is 90% black male homeless population. Just like Lost Mexicans and every other decent sized city. Shitlibs and Queers live in Fakeworld. They smell and see nothing.
I think you are right – they must not. I really don’t understand why it’s an attractive place to live. There are other places with nice weather that don’t stink of piss and shit.
Why were you there?
High speed rail? HA! It’s going to share part of the system with freight trains. Freight trains uses a guage of rail that is not compatible with high speed rail. Freight is not going to change to suit Ca’s pipe dream. Bottom line, this will not be a high speed rail system. 80mph is the current estimate.
This debacle isn’t even supposed to be going forward until 75% of funding has been secured. It’s in the damn initiative the libtards passed in ’08. But since when has this banana republic cared about the law?
One party rule is destroying this once fine state.
p.s. Ironbird…youre and idiot
Whatever. Visit Sacramento. The homeless shelters. Then try Fresno or anywhere. There is a systematic destruction going on that is horrendous. For fucking decades.
Lol, Saudi Aramco ipo may be delayed until 2019. What are they waiting for?
You’re right, the federal government should get behind high speed rail and put a helluva lot more money into it, too.