California continues to run deficits of $20 billion to $25 billion each year and must address hundreds of billions of dollars in unfunded pension liabilities in years to come. The state is facing severe service cuts and significant tax increases (again), yet it persists in pouring in billions upon billions of dollars to subsidize the train travel of a tiny percentage of the population.
Governors in Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin realized that proposed high-speed rail projects would end up bleeding their states dry year after year so they recently pulled the plug on those projects, even though it meant rejecting “free” money from the federal government. California should follow their example and put a stop to this boondoggle before it becomes yet another budgetary black hole for the state.
Summers, a resident of Carlsbad, is a policy analyst at Reason Foundation.