California high-speed rail's long ride to nowhere

Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson want a liberalism that builds things

Japan’s bullet train in 2005.

At 6 am on October 1, 1964, two sleek blue-and-white trains left Tokyo and Osaka. Traveling in opposite directions at a top speed of 130 miles an hour, each train arrived in the other city in 4 hours, cutting 2 hours and 40 minutes off the typical trip, according to The Guardian.

Japan was hosting the Olympics that month, and…