One reader is excited about the idea of a high speed rail system to Vegas that's funded largely by Casino billionaires:
Great post on this project this morning. The Express West HSR is a perfect example of how market demands will draw private investors. The Vegas Casinos are driven for a number of reasons, not least of which are the Indian Casinos in CA providing direct competion. While the Mrs. and me are not huge Vegas fans we occaisonally go. The HSR would be a very real option for us, even driving to Victorville first. I don't enjoy driving to Vegas, and flying is also a major pain in the a__. On the other hand I can't see us ever using the proposed LA - SF HSR.I agree, this is exciting news.
Usually the private sector can't or won't pool its resources together to build public-good infrastructure projects. And let's be honest: it's really not their job to build a Hoover Damn or a massive Interstate highway system. That's something most poeple agree is best left to the government.
But in this one, specific case, it seems we have rare agreement between a bunch of private actors on the need to build a large public infrastructure project. I suspect that's because the problem they're trying to solve (Getting Angelenos to Vegas as quickly and drunkenly as possible) is very specific and clearly benefits their bottom line. They're not building this to be nice; they're building it to make money.
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