Rep. Kevin McCarthy:

If you can’t prove it’s viable from a business plan, it’s not a (project) the government should be funding (SacBee)

I’m not sure it is worth going any further than that, but I will. Rep. McCarthy said that about HSR, while at the same time his central Valley Congressional cohorts are saying that the money approved for HSR should be put towards widening Highway 99.

Can we think about this for a while? He’s criticizing rail for not making enough money back.  When exactly have roads ever paid for themselves?  When we do toll up roads, people are outraged (occasionally justifiably).

With gas prices at or above $4, can we just finally quit the ridiculous canard that roads are a good long-term solution?  Either we work on making HSR happen, or you need to present an actual solution that both addresses the needs of a state of over 40 million people as well as climate change.

Sticking your head in the ground and hoping for the 1980s to come back doesn’t actually help California.