I can't imagine that there isn't the market for it in those three corridors. You know how many people make the trip from LA-SF? Along the BosNYWash? Those three make sense. A transcontinental bullet train? No way. Flying short distances has gotten to be such a pain that I just drive, and if I had the alternative, I would consider it. People are usually rational.

What if Disney built a monorail to meet the proposed rail system? It would be in their interest, would it not? I could see how a train from Miami to Tampa through Orlando makes sense, or would have made more sense if urban planners had implemented it twenty years ago. People in the Central Valley drive to Baypoint and catch the BART into 'Frisco, because it makes sense. In Sydney, folks hop the ferries to work. Government is responsible for infrastructure, because most of it is a natural monopoly.

Most businesses these days are LLCs and LLPs, which don't pay an entity-level tax. Still, the cost of poor infrastructure impacts their bottom line. If I'm paying an exec a cool mill a year, I want her to be as productive as possible, and I'd rather have her spending four hours on her laptop, Blackberry, or phone while sitting on a bullet train than being stuck in a cab on the way to Midway or La Guardia.

There are certain markets where it doesn't make any sense, and it sounds like yours is one where it doesn't. We need reality-based planning, somewhere between John Stossel and Karl Marx.

Ever seen how people are attracted to infrastructure? A perfect example of this is C-470 in Denver. When it was first put in, you could ride your bike on the durn thing; there was no traffic to speak of. Fifteen years later, it isn't adequate to handle the traffic. Trains are the cheapest and easiest way to expand infrastructure in high-density areas, which are the natural markets for such a service. It's easier and more pleasant to hop the TGV in London's Waterloo Station and arrive in Gare du Nord in Paris two hours later than to ever attempt to fly. Colorado has an interesting dilemma. The I-70 corridor to the ski areas is often jammed, to the point where locals avoid skiing to evade the traffic. Problem is, there isn't any...

Bullet trains make sense in markets where the cost of alternative infrastructure is formidable, and the population is large enough to support it. Logical routes would include the BosNY-Wash corridor, Chicago to that corridor (with feeders from Detroit, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh), and San Diego to San Francisco. On every route, the rights of way already exist, and all you need to do is upgrade the track and the stations.

Stossel: "The grand schemes of the politicians fail and fail again. By contrast, the private sector, despite harassment from government, gives us better stuff for less money -- without central planning. It's called a spontaneous order. " Which is, of course, why the Chinese are kicking our arsies into the Stone Age. Sorry, Stossel, but it doesn't always work that way. Markets don't work so well in situations where monopolies are natural.

Frank: "This is Frank from the UK. If any of you doubt the truth of John in OK's statement look at the UK. We get our crude from the same source as you, we pay for it in Dollars as you do, but we pay almost 8 dollars per gallon at the pump. Price differential due entirely to taxes. We pay fuel duty and then we pay VAT, not just on the fuel but on the total cost which means we pay a tax on a tax. Is that what you want?" If we paid five euros per gallon (remember that our gallons are different, but I'll assume that you have made the adjustment), fuel-efficient cars would become a necessity. We'd lower our need to purchase foreign oil, which would reduce our balance-of-payments deficit dramatically (it is roughly the cost of the oil we...

Greed is good, Loyal Dem. Problem is, every capitalist economy needs infrastructure. Say that I work in New York, and need to get to DC. The driving distance is about 225 miles, or about eight hours, in real-life traffic. Flying means that you have to hop a cab or bus out to La Guardia, which will cost you an hour in good traffic and far more during rush. Then, you have to get through security, and wait around for another half-hour to board the plane. After a half-hour flight, rinse and repeat. By conventional Amtrak service, the trip takes four hours. Put a bullet train in, and you get there in an hour and change. In the alternative, say that you worked in Chicago, and needed to get to New York. A little under eight hundred...

Planet Earth: "Uncle Thom is just revealing his irrelevancy by defending the disgraceful republican "judges" blatant judicial activism. These Republican Judges are just agents for big business, nothing more - nothing less." Frankly, "Uncle Thom" wouldn't have a clue as to what is or is not judicial activism. He might do better in his attempt to explain Black-Scholes, but given the bulk of his drivel, I wouldn't bet the house on it. Second, corporate interests own both parties. Aside from Bernie Sanders, Dennis Kucinich, and Ron Paul, Congress is a subsidiary.