@berrygood:  I agree with your thoughts  Also, to expand on your idea of what we could have done with that amount of money had we not spent it on rail, the answer is we would have had more than enough money to fix our roads, our aging sewer system, and building enough affordable housing and shelters to care for those that are homeless.  Even with all of that, we still would have had $5-6 Billion left to spend on something else.