Reason.com:  “How has California’s high-speed rail project survived for 14 years without a plan, a budget, or a single accomplishment? . .  If you were looking to take some easy shots at government waste and abuse, you’d have a hard time topping California State Auditor Elaine M. Howle’s recent assessment of the Golden State’s 14-year-old high-speed rail project.  Since 1996—twice as long as the Transcontinental Railroad took from approval to completion in the 1860s—the bullet train project has cost taxpayers more than $250 million, yet not one millimeter of track has been laid. . . .the bullet train is the centerpiece in President Barack Obama’s national rail plan. . . . the Authority has done no research on the project’s potential revenue, including such no-brainers as an analysis of ridership on existing high-speed trains.  the bullet train is a case study in the immortality of a bad idea.

Facts reported in the California State Auditor’s audit:

  1. It’s CEO makes $375,000-a-year
  2. Federal government will pay $2.5 billion in federal funds to build the high speed rail
  3. California voters approved $9 billion in bond funds to build the high speed rail

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