The Desperate Selling Off of America

[marmar]

AlterNet / By Rania Khalek

The Desperate Selling Off of America
Rather than upset the moneyed interests who bought their seats in office, politicians prefer to cut pensions, close schools, and most importantly, privatize, privatize, privatize!

June 1, 2011 |


While we have been frantically playing defense against relentless assaults on multiple fronts, from anti-union legislation to draconian anti-choice laws to the attempted privatization of Medicare, the selling off of public assets to the private sector has received little attention.

As states face a budget shortfall of $125 billion for fiscal year 2012, leaders are searching for creative ways to fill budget gaps, while refusing to consider the one legitimate solution: forcing tax-dodging corporations and the rich to pay their fair share in taxes. Rather than upset the moneyed interests who bought their seats in office, politicians of all stripes prefer to cut pensions, close schools, slash child nutrition programs, and most importantly, privatize, privatize, privatize!

In 2008, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley auctioned off the city's 36,000 parking meters to a Morgan-Stanley lead partnership, for a lump sum of $1.15 billion. According to Bloomberg, Chicago drivers will pay Morgan Stanley at least $11.6 billion to park at city meters over the next 75 years, 10 times what the system was sold for. The mayor used millions from the deal to help balance the budget, but since then, Morgan Stanley has raised parking fees 42 percent. It now plans on stuffing more cars into fewer metered spaces by getting rid of marking lines, raising the number of metered slots and expanding the hours that require fees.

Chicago gave up billions of dollars in revenue for a short-term fix and now, if the city faces another fiscal crisis, it will be left with an asset that generates revenue for Morgan Stanley. Despite the controversy in Chicago, the Associated Press reports that New York is exploring private options for its parking spaces as well. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/rights/151162/the_desperate_selling_off_of_america/

[Syrinx]

1. that's disgusting

We're basically hocking the nation to a fly-by-night pawnshop.

[ejpoeta]

2. it's like if i went and sold my car to get some money i need to pay a bill due on friday.

trouble is, now how will i get to work. i still owed money on that car. i didn't even get as much as i owed on it and now i don't even have a way to get to my job to make money to pay the rest of the money i owed on the car!!

btw... i would never do such a stupid thing. and i don't know anyone who would. yet they want to do it with their state's/country's assets without even considering that they are selling the things that are making money. friggin idiots. even parks... they bring in money. how you ask, when they don't cost anything to use? well, people generally drive to get to them or use some other form of transportation that costs money thus making money for some private business that may or may not pay taxes. then they usually buy food somewhere .... taxes there.... gas? taxes. souvenirs? taxes.... get the picture? and that's just the free touristy parks.

[liberal N proud]

5. But this is how America is operating these days

From governments (City, county and state) and even corporations. They will sell it off to cover the books this quarter or this year with no concern about what comes next year. I have watch companies sell of entire facilities or divisions just to show some profit for the investor.

People are no longer a companies most important asset, the investor is the most important figure in the USA. Nothing else matters.

GREED!

[leveymg]

3. Remember what Cool Hand Luke was sent up for?

[xchrom]

4. for sale -- used nation -- best offer. nt

[Marblehead]

6. that's the trouble with a capitalistic

system, you always need more.

[zazen]

7. IIRC, 49% of the meter deal is owned by Saudis

Matt Taibbi mentioned this in an excerpt from Vampire Squid, in Rolling Stone. There are sovereign wealth funds involved in several public asset purchases.

Mark my words--these funds will start buying our universities, building by building. They'll start with the private non-profits and then move into university/industry campus parks at the publics. Higher ed is one of our last bastions of perceived global hegemony.

[Uncle Joe]

8. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, marmar.

[Citizen Worker]

9. This is straight out of Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine. If you haven't read it you should. It is

an eye opener.

[pscot]

11. Worse. It's biblical

We're selling our birthright for a mess of porridge.

[katty]

10. K&R

[saras]

12. It baffles me why this isn't malfeasance?

Any official cooperating in this sort of thing needs to be INSTANTLY removed from office, to jail, until charges are filed and bail is set. What's so fucking hard to get about that?