Foreign companies buying U.S. roads, bridges

USATODAY.com - Foreign companies buying U.S. roads, bridges

Why does this make us uneasy? I mean, it’s capitalism at its finest, right? And unlike ports, it’s not like a foreign operator of a public highway in Indiana is going to sneak terrorists in to make potholes…

The problems are pretty easy to see. The cost of driving will go up — these companies are in it for profit over public service, and they stand to make hundreds of billions on their relatively small investments because there is no limit on how much they can raise tolls except "market forces." The immense profit does not filter back into the community or necessarily even the roads — it goes overseas and contributes to our increasing trade deficit — and that means jobs. There is little to no competition — it’s not like we want or need two parallel roads between two cities, so there is no competitive pressure for these toll roads to keep prices low and quality high. They’ve got us by the balls, and like defense, energy, and health, they can charge whatever they want for essential services and we will pay because we have no real choice.

Let’s not forget corruption as a motivator. Ken Blackwell, Ohio Gubernatorial Schemer-in-Chief who sold the Ohio electoral process to Bush wants to give the Ohio Turnpike to foreign investors for a few billion and a 99 year lease. Yes, I’m 100% confident he’s proposing this out of his love for the people of Ohio.

Where this leads, by the way, has a lot to do with the discussion of RFID. As soon as they force people to use EasyPass for tolls (which is any day now, given that the GWB, for example, now makes an entire level of the bridge EasyPass-only during rush hour), we’ll move into a system where just about every mile you drive will be taxed or tolled by someone, and maybe not your local government, where it could do some good. Parking lots will auto-charge you, promising to auto-validate if you make a purchase on your credit card or auto-tow if you stay a minute too long. Even stop lights will soon be able to charge a convenience fee, and perhaps if you pay a premium, they’ll turn green faster. What a deal.

Our government doesn’t seem understand the principle that infrastructure, the stuff we critically need but don’t want unnecessary duplication of, must be publicly owned or at the very least well-regulated in the public interest. The only argument against public ownership is that government can be less efficient than private enterprise. But factor the cost of regulation to even the most efficient companies and we’re still paying through the nose. And monopolies are even less efficient than the worst government bureaucracies because they can simply pass the cost of bloat on to us (remember AT&T before it was split up?). And they still need to tack on enough to make a profit on top of that, so we lose twice over. Frankly, government with accountability can still be the most practical and efficient route.

Privatization has failed numerous times, Enron being one of the prime examples. Yet Republicans keep at it, and keep lying about the benefits. Isn’t it time we vote these jackasses out of office and said ‘no’ to this crap?