[mistursinistur]

"People in Bakersfield aren't going to take the HSR to LA, at least not in enough numbers to justify connecting Bakersfield"

This is a pretty vague and evidence-free claim!

Note that thousands of people commute from Bakersfield to LA daily: http://www.bakersfield.com/news/residents-go-to-and-drive-gr.... The commute from the central valley to San Jose is also very heavy.

"take all the money you save and give a tax break to folks in Bakersfield"

I'd like to see HSR critics back up their claims with the ridership forecast model and public benefit accounting that you'd need to compute this tax break.