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One day in the future, archeologists will ponder the innumerable, apparently unfinished, concrete and steel monoliths strung across the brown wastes of what the primitives that lived there called “California.” Some might have been bridges, but they connected nothing. Many are in something of a straight line. Could they have been homage to unnamed “Gods” looking down from above? Or were they, like more ancient monuments, having to do with fertility rituals? Celestial observatories of some kind? Religious temples? Surely not; the residents showed little other sign of interest in religion. One archeologist will surely suggest they could have been part of what was apparently called a “railroad,” but the complete lack of “railroad tracks” will doom that theory.

In August, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy pulled federal funding from California’s High-speed-rail-to-nowhere project. It is grotesquely over budget and far past its supposed completion date without laying a single foot of track. Actual trains appear to exist only in conceptual renderings.

Graphic: Social Media Post

In response to Duffy’s shut off federal money spigot California sued. California is owed whatever it wants from American taxpayers because it’s California and it really needs the money. California is chasing its own middle class taxpayers away, and a newly proposed billionaire tax is chasing the remaining billionaires away too.

Facing a budget deficit of around $18 billion dollars, California desperately needed the $4 billion Duffy cut off. Under the Trump Administration, even California Democrats came to the realization the money wasn’t going to be forthcoming, so they told the Feds just what they thought of them:

“This action reflects the State’s assessment that the federal government is not a reliable, constructive, or trustworthy partner in advancing high-speed rail in California,” a spokesperson for the California High-Speed Rail Authority said in an email to the news service.
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So there. And:

The Federal Railroad Administration had warned that all work performed by the authority remained “at risk” of nonpayment, the spokesperson said, leading the state to conclude that the administration was unlikely to uphold its commitments.
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The spokesperson for the state rail authority argued the federal government has slowed the project by “by adding cost and delays without adding value.”

Graphic: Social Media Post

Apparently, federal inspectors were blocking access to work sites? Or worse, they were expecting to see results for all those taxpayer dollars? The billions already wasted seemingly didn’t add value to the bottomless pit of California waste and fraud. But not to worry. Now that the Feds can’t obstruct things, California can really get down to the railroad business:

“Moving forward without the Trump administration’s involvement allows the Authority to pursue proven global best practices used successfully by modern high-speed rail systems around the world,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles.

Where is California going to get the money to complete the project inspectors said was unlikely to be running by 2033? From private investors and by stealing money from other nonsensical state boondoggles:

The authority’s decision to drop the lawsuit comes as the group seeks private investors to support the bullet train. The project recently secured $1 billion in annual funding from the state’s cap-and-trade program through 2045.

The program sets a declining limit on total planet-warming emissions in the state from major polluters. Companies must reduce their emissions, buy allowances from the state or other businesses, or fund projects aimed at offsetting their emissions. Money the state receives from the sales funds climate-change mitigation, affordable housing and transportation projects, as well as utility bill credits for Californians.

“Transportation projects” like the High-Speed Rail debacle? I suspect Californians would also be hard pressed to find any “utility bill credits” from the “cap-and-trade program.”

Just as California is running out of taxpayers, they’re running out of “major polluters” to squeeze. Valero recently took a $1 billion dollar loss rather than remain in California. When their last refinery closes, California will have lost 20% of its refining capacity. Considering those refineries are the only source of California’s special blend of gasoline, gas prices are predicted to rise to around $10 per gallon.

Perhaps California can turn all that pseudo-railroad construction into bike paths?

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.