High speed rail, just another way of passing cash to the big blues?

Surprise, surprise, surprise:  the only states that are ending up getting the 'high speed rail' cash are the ones that currently have huge investments in low speed rail, like NY, IL, CA.  Other states aren't stupid enough to sink their economies with these huge, open ended economically irrational commitments.  It seems you need to already be irrational.

Both governors told the administration that the money, if spent, would be better used on other infrastructure. Both were told by federal transport secretary Ray LaHood that there's no way, no how that's happening. Instead, said LaHood, Washington would send the money to some other state more compliant with the administration's dreams.

Other states played their parts slaveringly. By the Friday following the election, New York's governor-elect, Democrat Andrew Cuomo, was declaring that if Ohio and Wisconsin were so well-off they could reject free federal money, he'd happily spend it on trains in his state. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat, did the same.

One of the most interesting ways to evaluate the Obami's policy moves is in the context of 'saving' the deep blue states from their fiscal folly.  States like Il, NY, MA, CA are all essentially bankrupt without extraordinary Federal Aid.  The stimulus and even moreso Obamacare only make sense in the context of figuring out how to get a lot of Washington's 'magic money' to these states to stave off their fiscal collapse.

But with the rest of the country calling their bluff and Congress shutting off the spigot, it won't be enough to save them.  Result:  a big, deep blue pile of broken crockery.