HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

The Politician Behind California High Speed Rail Now Says It's 'Almost a Crime'

Views:931
@ReasonVids

Quentin Kopp convinced voters to approve the bullet train. Now he's suing to kill it.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason
Subscribe to our podcast at iTunes: https://goo.gl/az3a7a

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.

----------------

High-speed rail lines began popping up in Europe and Asia in the early 1980s. Passengers were exhilarated by the futuristic trains rocketing between cities on glass-smooth rails at upwards of 200 miles per hour.

With high-profile roll-outs in France and Japan, bullet-train mania was underway. And then reality set in.

"The costs of building such projects usually vastly outweigh the benefits," says Baruch Feigenbaum, assistant director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation, the 501(c)(3) that publishes this website. "Rail is more of a nineteenth century technology and we don't have to go through these headaches and cost overruns to build a future transportation system."

Supporters, who claim that most high speed rail systems operate at a profit, use accounting tricks like leaving out construction costs and indirect subsidies. If you tabulate the full costs, only two systems in the world operate at a profit, and one breaks even.

But politicians can't resist the ribbon cutting ceremonies and imagery of sleek trains hurtling through the lush countryside. So the projects keep coming.

California's high speed rail line was sold to voters on the bold promise that it will someday whisk passengers between San Francisco and Los Angeles in under three hours. Nine years later, the project has turned into such a disaster that its biggest political champion is now suing to stop it.

An icon of California politics known as the "Great Dissenter," Quentin L. Kopp introduced the legislation that established the rail line, and became chairman of the High-Speed Rail Authority. He helped convince voters in 2008 to hand over $9 billion in bonds to the Rail Authority to get the project going. Since he left, Kopp says the agency mangled his plans.

For full text and links, click here: https://reason.com/reasontv/2017/09/20/quentin-kopp-bullet-train-flashman

Produced by Justin Monticello. Cameras by Alex Manning, Austin Bragg, Zach Weissmueller, and Monticello. Music by Grégoire Lourme, StrangeZero, Silent Partner, John Deley and the 41 Players, Jingle Punks, Topher Mohr and Alex Elena, Pavel Malkov, Elettroliti, and Riot.

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
    Thumbnail for We Read Hillary's Book So You Don't Have To4:38
    We Read Hillary's Book So You Don't Have To
    ReasonVids
    963 views
    Thumbnail for Killer Facts | Grunt Speak Shorts20:12
    Killer Facts | Grunt Speak Shorts
    Terrence Popp
    708 views
    Thumbnail for Information Liberated: Jeffrey Tucker on How Digital Media Subverts Government Power5:59
    Information Liberated: Jeffrey Tucker on How Digital Media Subverts Government Power
    ReasonVids
    986 views
    Thumbnail for Scott Walker Will Survive Wisconsin Recall: Reason-Rupe Poll Results2:49
    Scott Walker Will Survive Wisconsin Recall: Reason-Rupe Poll Results
    ReasonVids
    1000 views
    Thumbnail for "I am once more scamming gullible redditors out of their rent money" - greedy jew boinee sanduhs is out shekelgrubbing yet again1:15
    "I am once more scamming gullible redditors out of their rent money" - greedy jew boinee sanduhs is out shekelgrubbing yet again
    bestofupgoat
    145 views
    Thumbnail for thats why theyre gonna draft a bunch of illegals1:46
    thats why theyre gonna draft a bunch of illegals
    bestofupgoat
    440 views
    Thumbnail for 20-Year-Old Whiskey in 6 Days: Will This Self-Taught Chemist Upend the Liquor Industry?7:15
    20-Year-Old Whiskey in 6 Days: Will This Self-Taught Chemist Upend the Liquor Industry?
    ReasonVids
    1010 views
    Thumbnail for Rune Chat #103 | Pets and Their Lies1:20:51
    Rune Chat #103 | Pets and Their Lies
    RuneChat
    592 views
    Thumbnail for No Accepted Medical Use? Three Perspectives on Medical Cannabis10:25
    No Accepted Medical Use? Three Perspectives on Medical Cannabis
    ReasonVids
    939 views
    Thumbnail for Is Money Speech? Free Speech Rules (Episode 5)4:02
    Is Money Speech? Free Speech Rules (Episode 5)
    ReasonVids
    1022 views
    Thumbnail for Greenskeepers - Lotion3:46
    Greenskeepers - Lotion
    bestofupgoat
    140 views
    Thumbnail for Beaver building skills0:09
    Beaver building skills
    bestofupgoat
    196 views
    Thumbnail for Cried Wolf0:31
    Cried Wolf
    bestofvoatxyz
    396 views
    Thumbnail for Heybedeki turp ne? Daha ortaya saçılmadı | Nesrin Nas #ajans - CANLI YAYIN1:12:41
    Heybedeki turp ne? Daha ortaya saçılmadı | Nesrin Nas #ajans - CANLI YAYIN
    invidious
    150 views
    Thumbnail for Overwatch 2 Illegal Monetization | Pipkin Pippa Ch.【Phase Connect】2:02
    Overwatch 2 Illegal Monetization | Pipkin Pippa Ch.【Phase Connect】
    invidious
    564 views
    Thumbnail for Rober Part 2 Trailer | Rober Part 2 Trailer1:37
    Rober Part 2 Trailer | Rober Part 2 Trailer
    invidious
    337 views
    Thumbnail for Self driving cars in Austin meet in an intersection to discuss the future of SkyNet.0:50
    Self driving cars in Austin meet in an intersection to discuss the future of SkyNet.
    bestofupgoat
    538 views
    Thumbnail for troop inspection0:09
    troop inspection
    bestofupgoat
    223 views
    Thumbnail for Spain Now Has Groups Dedicated To Evicting Illegal Occupants0:59
    Spain Now Has Groups Dedicated To Evicting Illegal Occupants
    bestofupgoat
    164 views
    Thumbnail for ZOAR Episode 1: "A Child Called Earth"16:19
    ZOAR Episode 1: "A Child Called Earth"
    ZOARuo
    1481 views
    Thumbnail for Smile Cube10:00
    Smile Cube
    stumble_bro
    361 views
    Thumbnail for GLR Remix2:43
    GLR Remix
    bestofupgoat
    147 views
    Thumbnail for Fag facts0:44
    Fag facts
    voatcatbox
    267 views
    Thumbnail for Yoga0:30
    Yoga
    bestofvoatxyz
    1552 views
    Thumbnail for Stossel: Stossel's Stocking Stuffers5:07
    Stossel: Stossel's Stocking Stuffers
    ReasonVids
    697 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle