How to Start High-Speed Rail
I have big doubts about high-speed rail, but I was glad to see Gov. Jerry Brown take on the subject in a big way. This is a governor who has ducked big questions and big fights. At least he’s thinking bigger—and touching off a big debate. But pushing for high-speed rail won’t be enough. Brown […]
Liberty…Bell?
“I just got too involved in my work and family to know what was going on,” said Maria, a retired LA County employee and 33-year local resident. While most of us could plead the same reasons for our own civic disengagement, if you live in Bell, California, as Maria does, the stakes ended up becoming […]
The Last Patrician: Romney Falls From Favor as America Loses Faith in Old Money
Crossposted New Geography Mitt Romney’s collapse in South Carolina reflects the larger, long-term decline of the American patrician class he represents. That decline was accelerated by the 2008 financial meltdown that resulted in both the wave of populist anger now being channeled by Romney’s Republican competitors, and the rise of the new post-industrial elite championed by […]
California’s Next Gold Rush
On this day, 164 years ago, James Marshall discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California. In Carey McWilliams’ apt phrase, the ensuing Gold Rush “got California off to a flying start, and set in motion its chain-reaction, explosive, self-generating pattern of development” according to a simple, even magical equation: “gold equals energy.” From computer […]
California HSR Now Even More Ridiculous Than Before
As regular readers know, I’ve been skeptical of California’s LA-SF bullet train from the beginning, and my skepticism has only grown as cost estimates have doubled to nearly $100 billion in only a few years. But unrealistic cost projections have never been the only reason to be dubious. There were also unrealistic ridership projections, along […]