[yonkshi]

I had a discussion with a buddy about the California high speed rail and similar land prices issue. Surprisingly, eminent domain allows the gov to acquire land fairly cheaply.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain#United_States

[nradov]

Eminent domain doesn't make lane acquisition cheap. The government has to pay market price.

[ghaff]

And furthermore, eminent domain is (for the most part rightly) very politically fraught these days. Clearly it's sometimes needed but I'm perfectly happy with it being difficult, expensive, unpopular, and requiring a lot of justification.

[dsfyu404ed]

It wouldn't be so fraught if local politicians stopped trying to use it for "economic development" projects backed by people they owe favors too.

If eminent domain weren't an expensive PITA then it would be abused.

[TheCoelacanth]

It does make it somewhat cheaper by preventing them from getting gouged by a few holdouts trying to get a better price.