For decades, Japan has had a high speed rail system connecting its major cities, allowing for tourism and vacationing to flourish. By making larger population areas easier for people to move between, they maintain a higher level of connectivity than is currently seen in America.
Recently, Europe has started to get in on the high-speed rail trend. They have other problems right now, but I'm convinced that once they get on their feet again, the rails will be a major asset to them.
It's time for America to catch up to the rest of the world in infrastructure. If we have to be spending billions of dollars on economic stimulus, why not build infrastructure while we're at it? This is an opportunity to both create jobs in the short term, and invest in the infrastructure of our future.