The economy as we don’t know it

What will things be like when the economy finally straightens itself out?

Of course, Americ will be criss-crossed by 200 mph trains serving all major populatin centers at regular and convenient times. But let us grant that there is more to life than modern rail transportation.

Michal Hilzik’s column in the Los Angeles Times “Envisioning the post-recession economy” is worth a read and is applicable to our general mode of thought. Here is a highlight. It’s worth a read.

As my friend and former colleague James Flanigan writes in his new book, “Smile, Southern California, You’re the Center of the Universe,” this region — the crossroads of Latin America and Asia — has “opened up to economic opportunity, population growth and enormous energy from those two continents.”

That may be the best reason for optimism. The flow of financial capital may be momentarily stifled by the dumb behavior of smart-aleck bankers, but the power of human capital never seems to ebb.

Michael Hiltzik’s column appears in Business Mondays and Thursdays. Reach him at michael.hiltzik@latimes.com and read his previous columns at www.latimes.com/hiltzik.

To put it simply, population trends beg for a better transportation approach than the ceaseless construction of highways.

The European experience is that HSR is conducive to the process of business planning. It allows time for meetings and discussion and is fast enogh to get you in and out of meeints in well-connected cities.

It is part of a bigger picture.

Filed under: Passenger Rail Transportatio Policy