The desert between Las Vegas and Southern California is currently the site of a high-stakes financial gamble. While the Brightline West project is often presented as a sleek, private-sector alternative to the bureaucratic nightmare of the California high-speed rail project, a closer look reveals they are two sides of the same irresponsible coin. The Los Angeles to San Francisco project is a masterclass in bureaucratic inertia. By attempting to appease every local jurisdiction along its route, the state has allowed costs to spiral toward a staggering $231 billion. In contrast, Brightline West claims efficiency by utilizing the Interstate 15 median, yet it is now begging for a $6 billion federal loan while its parent company faces “substantial doubt” regarding its solvency. If private banks won’t touch this debt, why should the American taxpayer? While high-speed rail works efficiently in Europe, the U.S. model is broken.…