When was the last time a big government project came in on time and under budget?
For most Americans, the answer is “never.” Those who staff government agencies seem to think money grows on trees—actually the money printing is controlled willy-nilly by the Federal Reserve.
This from thepatriotjournal.com.
President Donald Trump has finally said “enough is enough” to one of the biggest money pits in America. This week, the Trump administration announced it is pulling $4 billion in federal funding from California’s high-speed rail project, calling it a “boondoggle” that has failed to deliver on its promises to taxpayers.
From The Post Millennial:
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that his administration is pulling federal funding from California’s expensive and behind schedule high-speed rail project, accusing Governor Gavin Newsom of gross mismanagement and failing on promises to taxpayers…
‘To the law-abiding, tax-paying, hardworking citizens of the United States of America, I am thrilled to announce that I have officially freed you from funding California’s disastrously overpriced, HIGH SPEED TRAIN TO NOWHERE.’
Trump’s Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, backed up the president’s decision, having said bluntly:
Federal dollars are not a blank check—they come with a promise to deliver results.
The high-speed rail project has been a poster child for government waste. California voters approved it way back in 2008 with the promise of a sleek bullet train connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles in under three hours. The price tag? A hefty $33 billion.
Fast forward to 2025, and not a single mile of high-speed track has been laid. The cost has exploded to an estimated $128 billion—nearly four times the original budget. That is enough money to build approximately 640,000 average American homes. And instead of a statewide system, the project has shrunk to a 119-mile segment connecting Bakersfield and Merced—two Central Valley cities that few Californians were clamoring to travel between quickly.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority has spent $15 billion so far with shockingly little to show for it. The current timeline does not call for even the scaled-back Central Valley segment to be operational until 2033—a full 25 years after voters approved the project.
As Secretary Duffy pointed out in a video statement:
We could give every single LA & SF resident almost 200 free flights [for what the state has spent on a train that does not exist].
Even some California Leftists have criticized the project’s runaway spending. Communist/Globalist Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan said at a budget hearing earlier this year that her constituents “overwhelmingly believe” high-speed rail spending “has been irresponsible.”
Governor Gavin Newsom quickly pushed back against the funding cut, having claimed:
[Trump] wants to hand China the future and abandon the Central Valley.
Further:
We’re now in the track-laying phase and building America’s only high-speed rail.
The joke is on Newsom, though. No actual high-speed track has been laid.
California officials also claim they have met all federal obligations and that the funding cut is “illegal.”
The state is now scrambling to find private investors to help cover the massive funding gap, with the High-Speed Rail Authority seeking expressions of interest by the end of this month.
For American taxpayers watching this drama unfold, the message is clear:
President Trump is demanding accountability for how [our] money is spent. While California politicians promised voters a futuristic transportation system, what they’ve delivered is little more than expensive paperwork and partial construction.
The decision to pull federal funding sets an important precedent that government projects must deliver results, not just promises. As working Americans tighten our belts during tough economic times, we may take comfort knowing that at least one runaway government spending project will not be draining our wallets anymore.
For a project that was supposed to be “high-speed,” the only thing that moved quickly was the money out of taxpayers’ pockets. Now, thanks to the Trump administration, that gravy train has finally been derailed—and the taxpayer express is back on track.
Final thoughts: Hopefully, this means someone has finally pulled the plug.
I am recurringly reading about what will be done about the high-speed California train to nowhere without reaching the climax, hence zero reward for my reading investment.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Nathanael Greene
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