Its not every day a state managestoburn through billions and still ask for more. ButCalifornias high-speed rail project has always been exceptional in that way.Last month,thefederal government finally said enough,scrapping$4 billion in funding after years of missed deadlines, ballooning budgets and politicaltheatrics. Youd think that would haltthetrain. Instead,thestate celebrated by tweeting about construction jobs and posting photos of rebar.Ten years ago, I didthemath and showed that fortheprice ofCalifornias high-speed rail project, we could fly everyCalifornian roundtriptoTokyo, buythem a bullettraintickettoKyoto and putthem up for two nights attheRitz-Carlton. And wed still have money left over for sushi.A decade later,thebullettrainstill hasnt arrived. Butthefantasy rollson, powered by taxpayer dollars and bureaucratic inertia.HIGH-SPEEDRAILISN'TCALIFORNIA'SONLYEXPENSIVEBOONDOGGLEWiththefederal spigot finally turned off,theCaliforniaHigh-Speed Rail Authority responded not with humility but with a victory lap: proudlytweetingthatithad created "15,500 jobs"onwhatitstill calls "Americasonly high-speed rail project."Theimage? A construction worker twisting rebar beside an American flag an attempttowrap a failed infrastructure project in patriotism. But no flag can cover what this really is: a taxpayer-funded monumenttomismanagement.Thepromise that voters approved in 2008 was clear: a 220 mph electrictrainconnecting San Francisco and Los Angeles for $33 billion. A transformative project that would rivaltheShinkansen in Japan ortheTGV in France. But sincethen,thecost has soaredto$128 billion andthefinish line keeps receding intothefuture.Thereal projecttoday? A partial rail segment between Merced and Bakersfield, two cities that were never attheheart oftheprojects original purpose.Its like building an airport shuttle that runs between a cornfield and a rest stop. Noone asked forit. Noone will rideit.3 REASONS CALIFORNIAS GREEN ENERGY CAMPAIGN IS DYING ON THE VINETheHigh-Speed Rail Authority now leans hardon"job creation" asthejustification. Of courseitdoes. When a project stops making sense as transportation, "jobs" becomesthepolitical life raft. But asMilton Friedman famously said, if you just wanttocreate jobs, you could hand workers spoons instead of shovels.Ten years later,themath still checks out. You could:Fly everyCalifornian roughly 39 million people roundtriptoTokyo in coach: $1,200 per personAdd a roundtrip Shinkansen bullettraintickettoKyoto: $200Two nights attheRitz-Carlton Kyoto: $1,400Total: $2,800 per person 39 million = $109 billionMORNING GLORY: DEFINING VULGARITY DOWNThats still $19 billion cheaper thanCaliforniastraintonowhere. Or put differently: for what weve spentonatrainnoone can ride, we could have given every person inthestate a literal journey of a lifetime.And yettheproject continues because noone in Sacramento wantstobetheonetostopit. Least of all, Gov. Gavin Newsom, who publicly "paused"theproject in 2019,then quietly restarteditthree years later.He now appearstobe auditioning for national office. But if he runs, this project will run with him.Itshould.Itdeserves his name:TheNewsom Line. A monumenttoambition without competence.