Dan Walters: California debt may be half a trillion dollars

Sacramento Bee ^ | 11/29/9 | Dan Walters

[rbosque]

They have been issuing bonds lately. It’s all worthless paper.

[cherry]

it has everything to do with govt pensions, paychecks, and medical benefits....

[Thermalseeker]

One of the problems is that the mass transit systems keep trying to operate as social experiments.

This particular train system being proposed would be inter-city, between LA and San Francisco. These never work without heavy gubmint subsidies because the cost of building and maintaining it far, far outweigh the cost and benefits of transporting a few hundred people at a time. Flying is cheaper and much, much more cost effective. There simply is no comparison when you look at the real cost per mile of travel per passenger.

Otherwise, I would agree with your comments. Atlanta has tried the same thing with MARTA, i.e. the Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. I rode the "M" train every day for about 4 months shortly after I got out of grad school to a job I took in downtown Atlanta. There was no parking in downtown Atlanta that was affordable and the traffic is horrendous. After witnessing a shoot out between gang bangers at the Five Points Station one afternoon on the way home, I decided riding the "M" train to save on parking and traffic tie ups really wasn't worth risking my life over.....