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.
Taxes?
California’s ENTIRE ANNUAL REVENUES are something like $150-150 billion. You’d have to dramatically increase taxes, and if you’re going to do that, why not spend it on education, or homelessness?
Because we can dramatically increase taxes for those too. Land value taxes don’t distort prices and we’ve barely scratched the surface.
I don’t know if I agree with raising taxes that substantially, but at least it’s a reasonable argument.
Why not substantially? The surplus from land ownership is “unearned income” - we’re basically giving a goverment handout to landlords right now. Land value is different from acreage, so your house would see very little increase in taxes.
Look, I’m not gonna bother with your evangelist tax pitch. Increasing the tax revenues of California by at least 30% is A LOT of new taxes, regardless of the source.
Ok but who cares? We should increase them even more than 30%.
…a lot of people care. An extra 30% lost would be financially ruinous for a lot of people.
It’s fortunate that increasing California’s taxes by 30% doesn’t necessarily impact a lot of people, then.
I’m not evangelizing the woke narrative at you. This is just how land value taxes have always worked.
Why not just spend less on killing Muslims?
California isn’t killing any Muslims.
The federal government pays Californian companies to make bombs. They also enlist and pay Californian residents to use those bombs, or otherwise get them in the hands of someone that will.
Instead, the federal government should pay Californian residents to do peaceful things. Like build trains.
Ok, whatever, but it’s not.
So, as I said in my initial comment, we’re building what we can, as we can afford it.