Another Bush legacy for the next President is the privatization of basic infrastructure, such as roads. Last year conservative “privatization” ideologues at the Department of Transportation (DOT) decided the best way to deal with the Federal government’s traditional role in funding transportation, whether that be mass transit systems or funds for highway construction and repairs was to turn the problem over to the private sector. Rather than use tax dollars to assist states, they used over a billion dollars to create projects which established increased tolls on roads in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis and Miami during peak rush hours.
It was all part of their overall plan to turn road construction and maintenance over to the private sector which would fund new construction and maintain existing roads through increased “user fees” (i.e., tolls) paid by the likes of ordinary motorists. In short, they wanted to shift the burden of transportation infrastructure costs from wealthy taxpayers to the middle class who would incur the greatest expense of a privatized system of road repair. Why do I say that? Because privatized roads would be a direct tax on the majority of poor and middle class Americans who use the roads to get to work, drive their kids to soccer practice, etc. It would also create an indirect, hidden tax on the middle class by driving up the cost of basic goods such as food, gasoline and consumer goods, all which rely upon our present system of highways as the primary means of their delivery, since we have allowed our rail system to fall into decay through benign neglect over the past 60 to 70 years. Truckers would pass the additional costs of tolls and other such “user fees” on to their commercial customers, who would then pass those costs along to the end consumers, i.e., you and I.
This is a great solution if you are a wealthy individual who would see a personal gain from his her reduced taxes after netting out the costs associated with these tolls, but for the rest of us “99 percenters” it would be a very expensive proposition, and one not favorable to business either, particularly small businesses which can’t send their factories overseas, or look to foreign markets in which to sell their goods when demand falls in the US, as it inevitably would. Rather than share the burden of transportation costs collectively and proportionately, we would shift the burden to those least able to afford the costs of this new “ownership society” while lining the pockets of those who had been gifted with the ownership of our roads and highways upon which we rely.
For the Bush administration roads should be commodities to lease or sell to the private sector, in much the same way that prisons, many schools, our health care system, our response to emergencies such as hurricanes and wildfires, and large parts of our military have become privatized as well. And we all know how well that has worked out. Which leads me to my quotes of the day, bipartisan quotes at that. One from a Republican and one from a Democrat, but both in accord with the idea that to privatize our nation’s transportation infrastructure is batshit crazy:
“[Bush DOT officials] have a myopic view,” said Rep. John L. Mica (Fla.), ranking Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Pricing transportation to drive down traffic may make market sense, but it harms the public, he said. “This was a country based on some system of equality. People are paying their taxes and have representation. You can’t exclude them from having a fair return.” […]
“Everything they’re doing is designed to drive things to privatization,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure highways and transit subcommittee. DeFazio said the nation long ago settled that roads are public goods. “They’re just trying to undo 200 years of history and go back to the Boston Post Road.”
Not only is this inherently unfair, it is designed to eliminate any federal funding for alternative transportation projects such as subway systems and other mass transit solutions to congestion. The costs of developing the necessary infrastructure is too high and too risky for big business to ever assume. They want profits with little risk. So the end result will be less mass transit, increased carbon emissions and greater expenses for the poor and for our incredibly shrinking middle class, all at a time when our economy is already headed into a deep recession thanks to the conservative agenda of shrinking government, and in particular the deregulation of our financial system. It’s an ideology destined to recreate the large monopolies that distorted our economy in the late 19th and early 20th century when a series of financial panics and economic booms and busts ultimately set the stage for the Great Depression.
The Bush administration’s efforts at the DOT to privatize our roads is emblematic of their approach to government in general. Milk it dry, siphon off tax dollars to benefit cronies and Big Business, and leave the rest of us holding the bill. No wonder President Bush, as unpopular as he may be, can still raise millions of dollars for his party. It’s been a great investment for the wealthiest Americans and for the CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies. But it has caused havoc to our economy, corrupted our politics, contributed to the gross disparities in income and wealth between the “haves and have nots” and effectively destroyed the middle class.
And the wingnuts call us deranged?
It’s all part of the drive back to the feudalism of the middle ages, the golden age of wingnut fantasies.
Modern conservatism is a religion, a religion of greed is good.
Thanks for bringing this recent article up and remarking on it so eloquently. (My own remarks upon reading it yesterday were not quite so civilized.)
My husband works for the company that the illustrious Ms. Peters, our current transportation secretary, worked for and will probably work for again. (He’s been there 20 years and knows most of the players because he goes to their offices world wide to set up their CAD software).
During the fall of 2006, the company executives were begging their employees to vote GOP because “a Democrat congress would take away all our business.” We both found this odd since the company enjoyed huge contracts created by public sector financing – something the Dems are always accused of blowing all our tax money on (hospitals, prisons, roads, water treatment plants, government facilities, etc.).
Silly us, the company knows they’ll still get the business from the private sector, they just won’t have to meet the oversight and hiring and pay and classification requirements that exist in all government contracts. They can cut all the corners they want and still make a bundle.
Feh.
Steven, I had just finished reading Jim Hightower’s screed about privatization and cursing Dick Cheney when your article appeared.
Is there something in the air? As a postal union member I am enraged about the privatization of that government service. Soldiers, clerks, tinkers, tailors, spies – everybody who does their job out of a sense of duty to serve the common good is disgusted with the “coalition of greed” that has ruled us.
I think we have finally stopped digging and begun to climb out of the hole.
This is only tangentially related to your post…
We spent a few days in Charlottesville, VA last week, and one of the things that struck me when we drove into the downtown was the lack of Philly-style congestion. How did they do it? I know it’s a smaller city/town, but really, it reminded me of the much smaller towns near me in PA.
When we went to UVA to walk around, I found out.
The Charlottesville transit service has a free trolley bus that runs from the downtown area to the University, with stops along the way. Runs with a regular schedule, and unlike SEPTA, the trolley is clean and fresh looking.
They also have a fare-based bus service to service the rest of Charlottesville. Guess what the fare is? a very affordable $0.75, or $21 for a 40 rides. In the summer, youths 6-18 years old ride free. Imagine, your teenager could get to work at a summer job without major parental contortions or expense to get them there…
Compare this with Philly’s SEPTA: $2 one-way, plus additional fees for transfers or long rides. A weekly pass is $21, with additional fees for long rides or multiple zones (ie, long trips). And the buses and subway is so filthy and decrepit you don’t want to sit down or touch anything. And if you live in the burbs where regional rail is the way to go, you’re looking at $7 one-way into the city.
We really need to be heading toward clean, accessible, and affordable public transit systems with the cost of gas spiraling upward, not handing that off to private concerns to make a buck with. How are people going to be able to afford to go to work at a $10/hr job if gas costs $4-5/gallon?
I find your observations absolutely central to the argument.
When government opts for private transportation (our own vehicles) over public transportation (trains, buses, light rail), the public interest is NEVER served and traffic congestion will only get worse. Transportation costs rise, quality of transportation goes down (as well as all the other costs associated with increased polution, stress due to the commute, etc.).
But there is way too much money to be made in the private sector when private transportation is the winner. Don’t even think about the cost of the tolls being collected by private companies. Road surfaces in most parts of this country require constant repair, replacement and upgrade. And the same companies keep raking in the gazillions for all of these follow-on contracts (construction, architectural and engineering, project management).
In eastern Nebraska, over a decade ago, people tried to promote a train that would run from Omaha to Lincoln because traffic on I-80 between those 2 cities was far over capacity due to commuters (both work and student). It failed and extra lanes were added to I-80 and the traffic is again worse than ever and it’s constantly being expanded.
The city of Omaha exploded south and west because of forced busing by Omaha Public schools (since ended, but the suburban schools are still the gold standard). Omaha was also trying to redevelop its downtown and attract fans to college and pro-teams events in the planned Qwest Center. An east-west and north-south light rail would’ve solved the problem of people not wanting to drive downtown for entertainment and businesses not wanting to relocate downtown because of the commute. (Bus service ends approximately 80 blocks before the western edge of the city is reached.)
Instead West Dodge road went from a 2-lane highway west of I-680 to a 6-8 lane expressway in 14 years. I-680 and the north-south arterials also had multiple lanes added. And now we consistently sit in traffic during the rush because the population keeps moving south and west of the city proper and it is virtually impossible to find a route without some form of construction going on during the summer.
We don’t solve problems here. We make new ones that will cost a lot of federal, state and city dollars to fix, the fixing of which will cause more problems.
This state is so retarded that it burns.
Even more interesting. Investing in public transit is one of the best ways to create jobs.