If It Sounds Too Good ... What You Need to Know, but Don't, About Privatizing Infrastructure

Saturday 05 March 2011
by: Ellen Dannin, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis

Remember the old joke about some sharpie who takes innocents by "selling" them the Brooklyn Bridge? By the time the poor guy finds out he was taken, the crook is long gone.

Flash forward to the present. States and cities are being told that they can fix their budgets and have money left over by leasing their infrastructure for 50, 75 or even 99 years. It sounds great, even miraculous. But we all need to slow down and do our homework, because the rule "If it sounds too good to be true, it is" still applies, and there are good reasons why state and local governments should not want any part of these deals.