CRONYISM AT ANY SPEED, CALIFORNIA UTILITIES, IN SEARCH OF TAXPAYER WINDFALL, LOBBY FOR HIGH SPEED RAIL

Thus far, federal subsidies for California's High Speed Rail project total $4.2 billion. The cost of the project continues to climb and was last estimated at $98.5 billion. Two CA utility companies are lobbying hard for the project which will result in huge profits.

California’s high-speed rail initiative has its fair share of detractors, but the state’s two largest utility companies—Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) and Southern California Edison—are not among them. Both companies stand to make millions, if not billions, providing electricity to the new high-speed rail lines if the controversial project is approved....According to a 2011 analysis prepared for the California High-Speed Rail Management Team, total electricity usage for the proposed rail system would be—“conservatively” speaking—about 8.32 million kilowatt-hours (KWh) per day. That works out to a little over 3 billion KWh per year. According to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), customers of PG&E, Southern Edison California, and San Diego Gas & Electric, the state’s third largest utility, paid an average rate of about 15.2 cents per KWh. At those rates, the total utility bill for the project would amount to about $1.26 million per day, or more than $460 million per year.

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The Washington Free Beacon

Occupy Mordor or Destroy the Ring?

There has been mixed responses to Occupy Wall Street by libertarians. Some see the movement as a positive, while others see them as little more than lazy hipsters. But libertarians must be sensitive to why people feel the way they do about issues. The occupiers point out a legitimate concern that "the 1%" control vastly more power and wealth than "the 99%", and corporations have accumulated more power and privilege than is healthy for an open society. Some other concerns and demands are absurd, but the heart of the matter is on track. The question is why has this happened? While many on the left are quick to blame a nebulous thing called "greed", or lack of regulation, the matter is more complicated than that. This calls for a Lord of the Rings metaphor. Let's say that Sauron, the big cheese bad guy of Lord of the Rings, is the corporate hegemony. The 1%. Most people in Middle Earth agree that this is a problem, but there are a few differ...

I've Been an Outspoken Critic of Censoring Conservatives, But I'm Not Leaving Patreon Over Sargon of Akkad's Ridiculous Remarks

By: Wes Messamore The Humble Libertarian Photo: Gage Skidmore

Were The Founding Fathers Aided By Aliens?

Photo: Sebastian Bieniek, Dollarfaces https://www.b1en1ek.com/works/bieniek-paint/2015-dollarfaces/ Edit (2/1/26): No

The Humble Libertarian original

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