Floating train could whisk you from D.C. to N.Y. in an hour

A rendering of a maglev train in the Maryland countryside.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

That's because a group of private investors is seeking to do what the federal government has been trying to pull off for years: bring super fast trains to the United States.

One working plan calls for 300-mile-per-hour train that floats on magnets to run from downtown Washington, D.C., to Manhattan. The train, faster than anything currently in operation, would make the trip in about an hour -- or nearly three times as fast as Amtrak's Acela service.

"You could live in Baltimore and commute to New York City faster than you could from Connecticut," said Wayne Rogers, head of Northeast Maglev, the group championing the project. "It changes real estate prices, how people live, where they work. It really changes the world."

The train itself is built around a Japanese technology known as magnetic levitation. Instead of wheels riding along a rail, maglev uses powerful, electrically charged magnets to suspend the train midair inside a U-shaped guide rail built on either side of the track. The magnets both lift the train and propel it forward, with the reduced friction being responsible for the train's super speed.

While it sounds like the stuff of sci-fi, the technology itself has actually been around for over a century. The Japanese have had a test track running for years, and the Chinese currently operate a similar, though less advanced train from the Shanghai airport to just outside the city.

But it's expensive. Northeast Maglev estimates the New York to D.C. route could cost over $100 billion. Much of the money would be spent on tunnels and elevated track necessary in such a densely populated area -- possibly tunneling under cities and then running over or adjacent to Interstate 95 in more rural areas.

So the group is starting small, aiming to construct a 38-mile section from the Baltimore airport to downtown D.C. within the next 10 years. With funding from U.S.-based private investors, they've already spent $40 million on the engineering and have applied for permits from the state of Maryland. They've been promised $5 billion in funding from the Japanese government -- which is keen to export the technology -- and plan on raising the rest of the money through the private capital markets.

They've also enlisted some powerful backers. Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, former New York Governor George Pataki, and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle all sit on the board.

Related: Coolest innovations around the world

Despite the strong backing, plenty are skeptical the train will actually get built -- with permitting, rights of way and money being the main hurdles. After all, there have been several proposals for high speed lines, and none have materialized.

"It's almost pie-in-the-sky," said Ken Orski, publisher of the infrastructure industry publication Innovation NewsBriefs and a former transportation official in the Nixon and Ford administrations "It won't happen in my lifetime."

The federal government has allocated over $10 billion for high speed rail -- much of it part of the 2009 stimulus package -- but less than half of that has actually been spent. California took $2 billion for its high speed train, but major construction has yet to start. Most of the rest has gone to incremental improvements to existing rail lines.

A second high speed proposal from the private sector may soon break ground in Texas.

This plan calls for a more traditional bullet train (think wheels and rail, but with speeds over 200 mph) running from Dallas to Houston. The trip could be made in 90 minutes as opposed to the three-and-a-half hours it currently takes by car or one hour by plane. The group promoting it -- Texas Central Railway -- says fares would be similar to those of a flight, but minus the hassle of getting to the airport and checking in.

The Japanese bullet train proposed for Texas.

The feasibility work is done and the group has applied for most of the permits. They hope to secure additional private funding and break ground by 2017, with commercial service starting in 2021.

What makes this project more likely is that it's using a technology that's been in commercial operation for over 50 years, is connecting two heavily populated areas over an empty, flat middle ground, and has a relatively modest price tag of $10 billion.

What makes it interesting is that conservative Texas could get high speed rail -- typically a dream of the Left -- even before New York or California.

First Published: November 3, 2014: 10:26 AM ET

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One World Trade Center opens today

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The building opens Monday, when the first tenant, Conde Nast, moves in. The publisher moves its 3,400 staffers into the 24 stories it is occupying, from floor 20 through 44.

One World Trade Center is opening 13 years after its predecessor was destroyed on September 11.

There are several buildings at the site. But the centerpiece is the One World Trade Center, a skyscraper that is 104 stories and 1,776 feet tall, a height that represents the year of United States independence. This includes the 408 foot spire atop the 1,368 foot tower.

It's taller than the original Twin Towers, which were 1,727 feet with the antenna, or 1,362 without.

The building has 3.5 million square feet of space, including offices, parking and an observatory, scheduled to open next spring.

Related video: Inside the new World Trade Center

Other tenants include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the China Center, a liaison for U.S. and Chinese businesses. But many of the floors remain unoccupied. The owners of the tower recently slashed the rent from $75 to $69 per square foot.

Located near Wall Street in lower Manhattan, the building was developed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the 16-acre site.

One World Trade Center cost $3.9 billion to build. The planning and construction were complicated by fighting among developers, realtors and insurers.

The new building replaces the Twin Towers, which were destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, when al Qaeda terrorists flew two hijacked passenger jets into the buildings, killing 2,753 people. This was part of a wider attack that also killed hundreds of people at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.

First Published: November 3, 2014: 7:43 AM ET

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How one government spends your taxes

The U.K. government is sending out letters to tell individuals where their income tax is being spent.

LONDON (CNNMoney)

Twenty-four million British taxpayers are about to find out as they receive personalized summaries that break down exactly where their hard-earned cash goes.

The program, considered one of the first of its kind by experts, aims to improve transparency and make the government more accountable for its spending.

Each person will get a chart showing, pound for pound, how the taxes they pay on their income are used.

About 25% goes towards welfare programs -- the biggest area of government spending -- including support for children and families, people with disabilities, pensioners and the unemployed.

Nearly 19% of tax money is funneled into healthcare, and roughly 5% towards defense.

"It's good for people to think about how their money is spent," said George Bull, a senior tax partner at accountancy firm Baker Tilly.

Related: Who pays the most income taxes?

A worker making £30,000 ($48,000) per year -- or slightly more than the average wage -- will see that they pay £6,781 in income taxes each year. Nearly £300 goes towards criminal justice, while £114 is spent on "culture" programs including libraries and museums. Nearly £80 goes to overseas aid.

The new initiative may upset some people who disapprove of certain types of government spending.

"You pay your taxes, the government chooses how to spend them," said Bull. "The government doesn't send these out to give you a choice about how your taxes are spent."

The smallest item outlines how much each taxpayer contributes to the European Union. For a person making £30,000, they'll pay £51 a year.

Britain's relations with Europe have become increasingly strained in recent years. Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to hold a referendum in 2017 on whether the U.K. should remain a member of the EU, if he is re-elected next year.

First Published: November 3, 2014: 9:53 AM ET

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Taylor Swift pulls her music from Spotify

Spotify users will have to buy Taylor Swift's albums if they want to hear her music.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

On Monday, Spotify announced that Taylor Swift removed all of her music from the streaming service.

"We hope she'll change her mind and join us in building a new music economy that works for everyone," Spotify said in a statement on Monday. "We believe fans should be able to listen to music wherever and whenever they want."

The move comes just a week after Swift released her highly anticipated fifth album, "1989," which is projected to be one of the biggest album releases since Eminem's The Eminem Show in 2002.

Spotify users could find Swift's full discography including the contagious "Shake It Off" on the streaming site. But the rest of "1989" was never released on Spotify, and as of Monday all of her music was pulled from the service.

Related: Taylor Swift's '1989' set to smash records

Swift has been a big proponent of selling physical and digital albums rather than streaming.

"Well I truly believe in the album," Swift told NPR last week. "I understand that the industry's changing and a lot of people are streaming. However, there are a lot of people who aren't, which is what this release reflects."

Swift also conveyed these feelings during an op-ed with the Wall Street Journal last summer in which she said "people are still buying albums."

Related: Taylor Swift's new single to benefit NYC schools

For Spotify, the loss of Swift leaves a big hole.

According to the company -- which celebrated 10 million paying subscribers in May -- nearly 16 million people listened to a Taylor Swift song in the last 30 days on the service.

To Spotify's credit, the company took the break up in stride, and asked the pop/country artist to "stay, stay, stay" echoing her own words, "it's a love story, baby, just say, yes."

They also created a "little playlist poetry" for her, as well.

First Published: November 3, 2014: 10:33 AM ET

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Starbucks CEO: Someday, we won't carry cash

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Instead, Howard Schultz expects the new mobile payment platform will help his company's own cash-less system catch on.

The Starbucks (SBUX) app already handles about 7 million transactions each week, Schultz told CNNMoney's Poppy Harlow. That means about one in every seven dollars customers spend at the chain is paid via mobile.

Apple Pay, which launched last month, has plenty of retailers on edge. Some, like CVS (CVS) and Rite Aid (RAD), have stopped taking these types of mobile payments altogether. Both companies are part of a retailer group called Merchant Customer Exchange that is working to develop its own mobile payment system.

Thanks to the popularity of Apple (AAPL, Tech30)'s iPhones, Apple Pay could be the system that introduces America to paying without cash or plastic.

Apple Pay "doesn't make me nervous at all," Schultz said, because "anything that Apple or PayPal or others do that brings the consumer to a higher level of trust about mobile payment is positive for the marketplace at Starbucks."

Related: New Starbucks app will have your latte wating

He said Apple and others are responding to "a seismic shift in consumer behavior" and soon, paying with dollar bills and coins will be rare.

And Schultz's vision isn't limited to Starbucks -- someday, he hinted, Starbucks could spin its mobile payment system into its own company.

First Published: November 3, 2014: 10:38 AM ET

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You won't believe these everyday items are knock offs

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Scammers aren't just ripping off expensive designer clothes and watches anymore. They've turned to more mundane items that are probably on your grocery list or in your medicine cabinet.

And knock-off products aren't just sold out of car trunks or on the streets. They're sold all over the internet and on store shelves.

"If it's made, it's counterfeited," said Christopher Robertson, acting director of U.S. Customs and Border Protection National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center.

The problem is that counterfeit household products can often pose a threat to consumers. And some fakes look so much like the original that it can be hard to tell the difference until it's too late.

Toothpaste was one famous example. In 2007, toothpaste carrying the "Colgate" label was recalled in four states for potentially containing a poisonous chemical. "We have seen toothpastes with antifreeze in it," said Robertson.

Related: Tiffany accuses Costco of selling counterfeit rings

Contact lenses are another target for counterfeiters, and fakes can be a potential health concern for unsuspecting consumers who wear them. The best case scenario is that they simply won't improve your vision, and the worst case is that they can damage your eyes. "They could be stored in a solution that's not sanitary and infect the eye, or they aren't made right and scratch the cornea," said Heather McDonald, chair of the International Trademark Association's anticounterfeiting U.S. subcommittee.

Just last month, government officials issued a warning about counterfeit decorative contact lenses ahead of the Halloween shopping season. The government has seized more than 20,000 pairs of counterfeit and decorative contact lenses this year.

The government also began seizing fake water filters this summer, according to Robertson. He said toys are commonly counterfeited as well. "If any of the parts are cheaply made, they risk coming off and being choked on or ingested or contain lead levels above the allowed statutory limits." Counterfeit guitars are also popular items on the market.

There have also been cases of counterfeit airbags that don't deploy or expel metal shrapnel when they do.

Even a bottle of wine can be a fake. Police in Italy recently apprehended 30,000 counterfeit bottles of cheap wine being sold with a fancy label as a more expensive vintage.

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The internet has made knock-offs more prevalent and easier to sell directly to consumers. Scammers set up mirror websites to look like a retailer's official online store or tempt shoppers with deep discounts on brand-name fake items.

Red flags that could suggest a website isn't legitimate is a lack of contact information, use of a third-party page for payment and grammar and spelling mistakes.

According to McDonald, counterfeit products can also show up at discount retailers. "They get duped just like the rest of us to save a couple cents."

China remains the top source of manufacturing and distributing counterfeit merchandise. And flagging a bogus product is hard -- even for experts.

Related: Pricey Hermès bags 'reek like a skunk'

Consuming counterfeit goods can hurt consumers, and they can also hurt the original brand. "If you [unknowingly] have a counterfeit version that doesn't work, you aren't going to buy that brand again," said McDonald. She recently bought super glue that didn't work and discovered it was a fake.

Spotting fakes of household goods can be difficult as the packaging tends to be nearly identical. Robertson suggested always questioning the location of where you're shopping and the discount you're getting, and to stick with authorized dealers.

And when considering what seems like a fantastic deal, remember this old adage: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

First Published: November 3, 2014: 10:38 AM ET

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