Athan Joshi is a rising junior at Los Altos High School. He is interested in public policy and international relations. He serves as a research assistant at California Policy Center for the summer 2025 term. He is a regular contributor of opinion pieces on international trade and public finances to moneycontrol.com.
California’s bullet-train may be the state’s most high-profile transportation money-sink, consuming a projected $135 billion with no clear path to the finish line. However, taxpayers shouldn’t overlook the other transit boondoggles torching public funds. Chief among them is Orange County’s 4.15-mile OC Streetcar: proof that you can pour high-speed-rail-style money into a monument to tunnel...
By Athan Joshi
In the heart of Silicon Valley, where innovation is supposed to reign supreme, the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) has become a textbook example of government waste, mismanagement, and the creep of crony politics that prioritize insiders over the public good. The agency’s latest draft budget for Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) projects a staggering $14.9 million...
By Athan Joshi
a new form will got here