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?
