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[quote user="LNER4472"] I believe the following statistic, cited in the aforementioned Washington Post essay, says it all: "Seems his ministry has run up $271 billion in debt — roughly five times the level that bankrupted General Motors. But ticket sales can’t cover debt service that will total $27.7 billion in 2011 alone." Read that carefully. The amount China is paying in INTEREST ALONE on the debt they incurred to build their big high-speed line is somewhere over TEN TIMES the U.S.'s annual appropriation for Amtrak's TOTAL operation. And the total scope of China's HSR in question/operation is LESS than has been proposed by Obama & Co. for the U.S.  The proposals made will amount to perhaps $3,000 for every man, woman, and child in the United States over a decade, whether or not they actually use it.  And that's just the FEDERAL part of the equation--the states would have to cough up about an equivalent amount per state/taxpayer. [/quote] You have raised the central question.  How are we going to pay for HSR?  I have yet to see a realistic plan to fund the proposed HSR projects in the United States.  Most of the proponents speak in fuzzy terms about public/private partnerships or something akin thereto, but so far the private part of "partnership" is missing. The U.S. federal debt ($14.3 trillion) is equal to 97 per cent of Gross Domestic Product.  It has not been this high since the end of WWII.  Moreover, unfunded liabilities total more than $55 trillion.  Given these dour numbers, where is the U.S. going to get the money to build the HSR rail systems dreamed of by many rail enthusiasts? Here is another sobering thought.  According to International Monetary Fund estimates released today (April 28, 2011), China's economy (GDP) will surpass the U.S.'s by 2016, which is considerably sooner than its heretofore most recent estimate (2022).  This will have serious ramifications for the U.S. Amongst other things, it will put significant pressure on the dollar and could very well ends its reign as the world's reserve currency.  This would ripple through the U.S. economy like a bullet train, for sure, but not one that is likely to stay on the tracks.  The train wreck could be very ugly.
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