The Train to Nowhere: Alto’s Debt-Fueled Farce

Or, Why Grown Adults Still Point at the Toy and Say “I Want It”

Walk into a toy store with a five-year-old. He sees the electric train set—sleek, fast, glowing under glass—and instantly: I want it. I want it. I want it. Price tag? Five hundred dollars. Doesn’t matter. He has no concept of budgets, trade-offs, or affordability. Desire is the argument.

Now scale that up to a country.

The toy is Alto: high-speed rail fro…