Privatisation of public assets is nothing more than abdication of responsibility and an admission that the proponent lacks imagination and creativity and courage. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
-----Original Message----- From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tue, 20 May 2008 14:55:56 To:[email protected] Subject: Re: [Swlfest] OT: Re: Pennsylvania Turnpike News In these 75 year agreements what happens if the private company goes belly up? Does the state hand it off to the next highest original bidder or just take over ops and solicit for new bids? -- "Richard Cuff" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <shrug> It's really the state of PA's politicians looking to monetize (one of those high-falutin' MBA words) a state asset and generate cash instead of raising taxes. The risk in going through privatizations of this ilk is that governments become addicted to the revenue windfalls. While I am no expert on public sector financial instruments, it seems to me that PA could instead issue revenue anticipation bonds for toll receipts. They would still get the cash up front. I suppose another advantage of privatization is that a private company would likely opt not to be bound by labor agreements established by the Turnpike Commission and seek to pocket the difference in cost. As someone who pays to drive the Turnpike on a regular basis, I am concerned that a private operator of the Turnpike won't be treated as a regulated public utility. Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 10:48 PM, maryanne kehoe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > That says something about the state of PA's finances if they are keen on > selling off the Turnpike. It's simiar to the talk about selling off some > of the airports here in this country to BAA. Too bad Atlanta's didn't > get past the taking stage. > _______________________________________________ Swlfest mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swlfest To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], or visit the URL shown above. For more information on the Fest, visit: http://www.swlfest.com http://swlfest.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ Swlfest mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swlfest To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], or visit the URL shown above. For more information on the Fest, visit: http://www.swlfest.com http://swlfest.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ Swlfest mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swlfest To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], or visit the URL shown above. For more information on the Fest, visit: http://www.swlfest.com http://swlfest.blogspot.com
