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Lets pretend that you are a person who really likes light-rail mass transit. Let us also pretend hypothetically that you just inherited $10 billion. Your task is to try to think of all the steps that would be necessary to build your network of light-rail.
Such as, where are you going to put it?
How will you get the permission to build it?
How much will it cost to build?
How much do you intend to charge in fares?
Will your fares be competitive with current transportation options?
Who are you competing with? Is that competition "fair"?
I have thought a lot about building my own railroad. And being the "planner" type of person that I am, I started thinking about all these issues. I came to the conclusion in summary, that I would never get permission from the government to build it. Even if I did, the cost would be vastly inflated from all the bureaucratic hoops I would have to jump through. And I would be unable to compete against the heavily tax-subsidized public road system.
In reality, the question over light-rail is never an economic/free market question. Rather, because of the interference of government, the question over light-rail will always be a political question.
In that sense, trying to build mass transit with your money would be a waste of time. You would be much better off just buying off some politicians/media companies with your money.
Last edited by Redshadowz; 09-20-2014 at 03:29 AM..
Actually it's not. It starts by stating that Norway's wealth fund isn't really worth anything because the country has a national debt. And that was tip number one that either the author doesn't know the first about how national economies work, or he's lying to an ideologue audience. Then there are the ads featuring women in bikinis - how becoming of a serious publication - and one with a picture of Mitt Romney telling readers that the can get rich from penny stocks. And then I stopped. It's that bad.
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