Not so friendly reminder that musk specifically came up with, and pushed, for hyperloop knowing that it would never be made, as an effort to stop the development of highspeed rail in America and shift all political discussions of it because “something better is around the corner”:
As I’ve written in my book, Musk admitted to his biographer Ashlee Vance that Hyperloop was all about trying to get legislators to cancel plans for high-speed rail in California—even though he had no plans to build it. Several years ago, Musk said that public transit was “a pain in the ass” where you were surrounded by strangers, including possible serial killers, to justify his opposition.
Also: 2024 update, the total length of China’s high-speed rail tracks has now reached well over 45,000 km, or 28,000 miles, by the end of 2023.
They are additionally five years ahead of schedule and expect to double the total number within ten years. And, before someone inevitably complains about “how expensive it is”, they are turning over a net-profit of over $600M USD a year.
If we took all money from all billionaires nationwide, that might just pay for California HSR, to say nothing of other states.
If you liquidated the assets of the top 3 billionaires, that would just about cover the cost of California HSR if it really is in the 500B range as you said.
Actually, maybe make it the top 6 billionaires. I doubt Tesla would be as overpriced as it is right now if all of Musk’s stock was sold off. Ditto for meta and Zuck, etc.
Like I said. Ok, in this insane hypothetical that no one has any idea how to practically make happen, you’ve mined the reserves of US billionaires to finish constructing HSR in one to five states. Neat. 45 more to go.
Most states are going to be a bit cheaper because you won’t have to buy up land in California for the rest of them.
Also make the entire thing federal and profitable. The profits from Cali HSR will pay for the next few states.
“Make it federal” is one of the few decent answers to my original question - where will the money come from?