..."In November 2008, Californians approved a ballot measure allowing the state to authorize up to $9.95 billion in bonds to finance high-speed rail. The bonds can only be issued if other sources match at least 50 percent of any bond issue.
The Obama administration quickly granted California $3.5 billion for high-speed rail. But since the ballot measure was approved, cost projections have exploded, the project has been tied up in lawsuits, and the completion date for the major phase of the project has been pushed back 14 years, to 2034. It’s now expected to cost $68 billion, and there is no clear plan to raise the rest of the money now that federal funding has dried up.
To make matters worse, the project that was supposed to connect Los Angeles to San Francisco isn't starting in major population centers. Instead, the first 130-mile stretch will be connecting Madera to Bakersfield.
With the public souring on the project, even Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a one-time ardent supporter of the project, has changed his mind.
"I would take the dollars and redirect it to other, more pressing infrastructure needs, and I am not the only Democrat that feels this way. And I've got to tell you, I am one of the few that just said it publicly," Newsom said during a February appearance on the "Ben Shapiro Show."
The high-speed rail program was one of the ways in which Obama sought to show that government is capable of doing big things, but thus far he has proved just the opposite."
