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Another Disastrous California Rail Project Shows Why Blue States Always Trend Toward Going Broke

Name the private sector business that survives with a $30 million payroll and $2.3 million in receipts from customers.

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In a much-discussed phenomenon, blue state government spending is soaring, and doing so against limited population growth:

California's population grew 0.4% in the last decade. The number of state employees grew 24.5%.Total state spending grew 48%, inflation adjusted.You have to ask – where did all the money go? https://t.co/q2izRdWNd7 pic.twitter.com/rEdJSxBE6W— Maria Davidson (@MariaDavidson) April 2, 2026

California's population grew 0.4% in the last decade. The number of state employees grew 24.5%.Total state spending grew 48%, inflation adjusted.You have to ask – where did all the money go? https://t.co/q2izRdWNd7 pic.twitter.com/rEdJSxBE6W

Nick Shirley is offering one highly plausible answer about where all the money went, but there’s also another answer. The culture of progressive governance lights money on fire for symbolic performances that never produce the promised results, and it creates money-hungry projects that become impossible to shut down even when they obviously don’t work. The most infamous of these projects is California’s high-speed rail project, with a plan approved in 2008 to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco by bullet train. It hasn’t done that, it won’t do that anytime soon, and the budget keeps climbing for a project that keeps becoming significantly more modest in its promises.

But here’s another example of blue culture waste, and it’s maybe even easier to show how preposterous........

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