Is the U.S. dollar doomed?

Only the most naive still believe that we are going to get out of this economic mess without some real pain and consequence.

America's credit rating should be much worse

Peter Schiff hits the nail on the head as to why S&P should have down-graded U.S. debt even more than it did.

The joy of high speed rail in Cali

So, it turns out that it is going to cost a lot more than the cheerleaders told us that it would:

The estimated cost of California's high-speed rail project is rising by billions of dollars.

Environmental impact studies released Tuesday and obtained in advance by The Associated Press put the cost of building the initial segment at anywhere from $10 billion to $13.9 billion.

That's sharply higher than the $7.1 billion estimate from 2009 for the Merced-to-Bakersfield section. Rail board executives say the higher costs include more elevated tracks in the Central Valley and more specific data about property values.

What a surprise. Politicians with the aid of environmentalists sold this "feel good" boondoggle to gullible voters and now we're stuck with footing the bill for decades to come. I wish I could say that there was a lesson learned here but I doubt it.