The problem in making the case for high-speed rail in California is that, though it is the most populous state in the union, there are simply not enough people packed into the 50-mile wide coastal strip that wends its way 350 miles from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

ECONOMIST: High-speed trains

Obama pours borrowed or seized funds into boondoggles like subsidies for toy electric cars that blow up like Spinal Tap drummers and high-speed rail for the 12 people who want to take trains in California, and allows the federal workforce to grow by over 100, 000 bodies.

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Remarkably, this estimate is 40 to 60% higher than the 3.1 million ton reduction the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) originally claimed in 2008 for the entire plan, including extensions to Sacramento and San Diego.

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The project's godfather is Democratic Congressman Jim Costa, who as a state senator in the 1990s wrote legislation creating California's High-Speed Rail Authority and helped plan the 500-mile route between San Francisco and Anaheim.

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