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.
Those of us who prefer smaller, more cost-effective government often applaud privatization. But if private companies can profit by making the public sector bigger and more expensive, they will do so. That’s the case with the private engineering firms that profit from such costly California rail boondoggles as the high-speed rail project. The phenomenon of...
This study analyzes the financial performance of 85 California transit operators for fiscal year 2023, revealing a significant gap between revenue and expenses that necessitates over $10 billion in annual taxpayer subsidies. The report identifies long-term cost escalation, driven by what economist William Baumol termed “Cost Disease,” as a core issue. It concludes that without...
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