Republicans Opening the Door to Public/Private Partnerships

Senator Mark Kirk presented details yesterday about his plan to lease public transportation assets to private companies or partner with them to expand transit.

The cash generated by the leases or sales be reinvested in infrastructure, writes reporter John Hilkevitch:

"The initiative to loosen the reins on privatization, coming at a time of record federal and state deficits and the prospect of declining government spending on public infrastructure, runs counter to legislation that Democrat Durbin introduced Friday."

Hilkevitch reports on the controversies in Chicago over privatizing public infrastructure such as parking meters.

Full Story: Kirk unveils plan to ease transit privatization

Comments

Comments

Not to be cynical...

... but this tactic was used on a grand scale during the Reagan administration to transfer publicly-owned assets to private ownership, at a nickel-on-the-dollar (or less) rate of capture of actual value.

Too often the 'Invisible Hand' manages to loot the Public Pocket....

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