Who's to blame for the sellout? Foreign firms buying up America's infrastructure

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | 6/2/07 | Henry Lamb

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

bump.

[AuntB]

Selling out America ping.

[deport]

Realistically, with gas prices above $3 per gallon, no politician will suggest increasing the gasoline tax, when it is so much easier to sell off a highway to a PPP and reap billions in new money – without having to ask the voters for a tax increase.

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Depending upon which profit figure you believe the oil companies receive something in the neighborhood of $0.08 - $0.10 per gallon profit. Depending upon which state and local taxing district you purchase gasoline in you’ll pay to those entities and the feds somewhere between $0.28 to $0.68 per gallon. They damn well need to think long and hard prior to raising the tax on gasoline for all we are currently getting from them.

[stevie_d_64]

Leasing a highway to a private operator allows a state government to focus its resources on doing the "heavy lifting" in rebuilding the infrastructure,

No, it actually frees up the government to look for new things to tax, and to perpetuate its growth and existance...

while the day-to-day cost of operating/maintaining the asset will be passed on to a private operator who can do it far more efficiently than government can.

Based upon what data where anything has run on schedule, or even on budget in any government/private sector endeavor??? Remember most of the private sector entities are foriegn owned...Why would you believe they could do it any better than a domestic firm, which should make you wonder why we don't see a lot of domestic firm taking up the lead to run these shows...Looks to me like a lot of their dealings are beyond most scrutiny from anyone in this countrues ability to snoop...Not that I believe any of this is some big conspiracy, but it does make some people think outside the box and try to determine why this is a trend in the way our goverenment is conducting business...

The fact that the most vocal opponents of these lease arrangements are usually public-sector labor unions is a good reason to at least consider these deals seriously.

I am a vocal opponent of these types of deals based upon a lot of factors labor unions couldn't give a flip about...And I am not in anyway shape or form involved with any union...So why do you think I am opposed???

[stevie_d_64]

Yer gettin’ good at that whole hitting the nail on the head thing!!! ;-)

Spooky!

[Scotsman will be Free]

All governments are whores. They will sell anything and everything for a few dollars to grasp in their sweaty little hands RIGHT NOW.
I say whore away. Sell it all. After collecting the bucks, nationalize it all and send the furriners packing.

[ken21]

lamb’s a bit extreme.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[papasmurf]

Spoken like a true gov't lackey.

The fact that the most vocal opponents of these lease arrangements are usually public-sector labor unions is a good reason to at least consider these deals seriously.

That's an uninformed, at best, opinion, my FRiend.

papa

[papasmurf]

Let's not forget that truckers pay a "fuel" tax of between 14.5 and 38 cents per mile for each mile driven in every State. That's on top of the taxes charged at the pump.

Each commercial vehicle also pays between 300 and 550 per year in Federal Highway Use Tax, many States also charge a "surcharge" on top of their fuel tax, and some even charge a business tax and property tax, whether you live there or not. All of that is on top of the annual 1200-3200 International Registration Plan fees we pay. Shall I mention the excise taxes we pay, also? :)

:O)

P

[endthematrix]

Our very own Oligarchs.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

You’re welcome. :-)

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

So, where in the @#$% does it all go???

[Alberta's Child]

Actually, I work in a business where I am far better off with government providing massive taxpayer subsidies to maintain this illusion of a "free" highway system. But I also recognize it as a complete fraud at its root . . . hency my belief that a privately-run highway system might actually be better in the long run.

[Alberta's Child]

It's important to note that leasing a highway in the U.S. may actually be a bad investment in the long run -- which is why I suspect U.S. firms generally have no interest in these ventures. It's far more lucrative for U.S. firms to underwrite the bonds used to finance these transactions than to actually go out and be a party to the deal.

I believe most companies that pursue these leases tend to be foreign-owned companies with a lot of cash to invest, looking for something relatively stable in the U.S. This enables them to take advantage of a weak U.S. dollar today that will rise and fall over the course of the lease (thereby offering opportunities to engage in different types of transactions depending on whether the U.S. dollar is strong or weak at any given time). The tax laws in the home countries of these foreign firms may be favorable to this kind of arrangement, too.

[deport]

Yes they get to truckers in various ways such as you mentioned that are over and above pump prices.... Here is a state by state list of taxes with notes about other taxes.

Table EN1

A gasoline and a diesel graph, state by state

[wolfcreek]

“We are not talking about illegal immigration, terror money from Saudi oil, or any of that, in this piece”

That's quite an assumption. How do you know where the money is coming from? The Chinese and the Arabs are invested in most of the world markets. A lot of these consortiums don’t have that good a track record managing projects in this country.

They'll come a time (maybe already has) when globalization, as much as some of you worship it, will come back to bite us in the ass.

[stevie_d_64]

I believe you are correct in the tieing of the feduciary aspects of these deals to the long-term profit and influence these companies gain when they enter into deals like this...

But for all of the good that “may” come from something like this, it doesn’t mean squat if it puts at risk the population and other infrastructure if you do not address the security and soveriegnty issues...

To this point none of this has been seriously addressed...

[anymouse]

They should plant Pecan and Orange trees next to these super toll roads, so the ChiComs can have something to eat as they drive their tanks in the shade of these trees down these spiffy toll roads. ;)

But they better bring a "sh!tload of dimes." ;)

[stevie_d_64]

Well maybe it’ll be a quarter by then...Right???