Cash-strapped states weigh selling roads, parks

Minnesota is deep in the hole financially, but the state still owns a premier golf resort, a sprawling amateur sports complex, a big airport, a major zoo and land holdings the size of the Central American country of Belize.

Valuables like these are in for a closer look as 44 states cope with deficits.

Like families pawning the silver to get through a tight spot, states such as Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts and Illinois are thinking of selling or leasing toll roads, parks, lotteries and other assets to raise desperately needed cash.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has hinted that his January budget proposal will include proposals to privatize some of what the state owns or does. The Republican is looking for cash to help close a $5.27 billion deficit without raising taxes.

GOP lawmakers are pushing to privatize the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and the state lottery. Both steps require a higher authority _ federal legislation in the case of the airport, a voter-approved constitutional amendment for the lottery. But one lawmaker estimated an airport deal could bring in at least $2.5 billion, and the lottery $500 million. (the same old GOP song, privatize, privatize, privatize)

Massachusetts lawmakers are considering putting the Massachusetts Turnpike in private hands. That could bring in upfront money to help with a $1.4 billion deficit, while also saving on highway operating costs.

In New York, Democratic Gov. David Paterson appointed a commission to look into leasing state assets, including the Tappan Zee Bridge north of New York City, the lottery, golf courses, toll roads, parks and beaches. Recommendations are expected next month.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/27/cashstrapped-states-weigh_n_153716.html

.. the destruction of an economy works.

and watch revenue get sucked out of your communities for decades down the line.

Not to mention- inevitably higher prices for poorer quality services for your citizens.

to balance the books before you start selling off our fookin' infrastructure, all right?


Idiots.

havens. Oh, and HEMP!

wealth is a measure of gods favor to a man, its a sin to tax a rich man..!!!!

http://doggo.tripod.com/doggchrisdomin.html

really.. i am not kidding, the Nazi's are scared shitless of these guys

http://doggo.tripod.com/doggchrisdomin.html
"..snip...This article is the documented story of how a political religious movement called Dominionism gained control of the Republican Party, then took over Congress, then took over the White House, and now is sealing the conversion of America to a theocracy by taking over the American Judiciary. It’s the story of why and how 'the wrath of God Almighty' will be unleashed against the middle class, against the poor, and against the elderly and sick of this nation by George W. Bush and his army of Republican Dominionist “rulers.”

As Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court explained a few months later, the Bible teaches and Christians believe '… that government …derives its moral authority from God. Government is the "minister of God" with powers to "revenge", to "execute wrath", including even wrath by the sword…
...snip"

"snip...Leo Strauss was born in 1899 and died in 1973. ... He is most famous for resuscitating Machiavelli and introducing his principles as the guiding philosophy of the neo-conservative movement. ... More than any other man, Strauss breathed upon conservatism, inspiring it to rise from its atrophied condition and its natural dislike of change and to embrace an unbounded new political ideology that rides on the back of a revolutionary steed, hailing even radical change; hence the name Neo-Conservatives.

Significantly, Dominionism is a form of Social Darwinism.<48> It inherently includes the religious belief that wealth-power is a sign of God’s election. That is, out of the masses of people and the multitude of nations, wealth, in and of itself, is thought to indicate God’s approval on men and nations whereas poverty and sickness reflect God’s disapproval.

(It was not until I read this article that I realized that this is a fundamental tenet of Dominionists.

Worldly wealth and power are signs of God's favor -- to attempt to limit or decrease one's wealth and power is to disrespect God.

On the contrary, God's elect on Earth are called upon to increase their wealth and power.

It is not sufficient for a man to be a millionaire, or for a country to have sovereignty within its borders -- a man must strive to increase his wealth as much as possible, and a Dominionist government's behavior toward its neighbors must be "invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity".

Furthermore, any attempt to decrease a person's or a country's wealth and power -- to take from the rich to give to the poor, to reduce military spending and power -- is a direct attack on God.)

If “Secular Humanists are the greatest threat to Christianity the world has ever known,” as theologian Francis Schaeffer claimed, then who are the Humanists? According to Dominionists, humanists are the folks who allow or encourage licentious behavior in America. They are the undisciplined revelers.

Put all the enemies of the Dominionists together, boil them down to liquid and bake them into the one single most highly derided and contaminated individual known to man, and you will have before you an image of the quintessential “liberal” -- one of those folks who wants to give liberally to the poor and needy -- who desires the welfare and happiness of all Americans -- who insists on safety regulations for your protection and who desires the preservation of your values -- those damnable people are the folks that must be reduced to powerlessness -- or worse: extinction. ...snip

That'll save quite a bit of money right there.

Somebody needs to get that idea to Bill Maher and Woody Harrelson, pronto. And NORML. We need figures on the exact amount each state and the feds can save by releasing pot smokers, specifically, and drug users as a whole.

How many billions will it add?

then you are mistaken.

the end of private roads and bridges was a major victory in the progressive movement (including Huey Long) as private owners could charge any rate to any one that they wanted- have a nice piece of land? Oh its going to cost you triple to cross my bridge

Conservatives also vehemently opposed the interstate highway system. Too much chance of people thinking that public ownership was a good thing.

But I really believe this was planned. It certainly was in Texas.

i really think that's why they shot Lincoln..

we should tax the people for the people by the people. Thats socialism.

therefore its a sin to tax a rich man..



http://doggo.tripod.com/doggchrisdomin.html
"..snip...This article is the documented story of how a political religious movement called Dominionism gained control of the Republican Party, then took over Congress, then took over the White House, and now is sealing the conversion of America to a theocracy by taking over the American Judiciary. It’s the story of why and how 'the wrath of God Almighty' will be unleashed against the middle class, against the poor, and against the elderly and sick of this nation by George W. Bush and his army of Republican Dominionist “rulers.”

As Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court explained a few months later, the Bible teaches and Christians believe '… that government …derives its moral authority from God. Government is the "minister of God" with powers to "revenge", to "execute wrath", including even wrath by the sword…
...snip"

"snip...Leo Strauss was born in 1899 and died in 1973. ... He is most famous for resuscitating Machiavelli and introducing his principles as the guiding philosophy of the neo-conservative movement. ... More than any other man, Strauss breathed upon conservatism, inspiring it to rise from its atrophied condition and its natural dislike of change and to embrace an unbounded new political ideology that rides on the back of a revolutionary steed, hailing even radical change; hence the name Neo-Conservatives.

Significantly, Dominionism is a form of Social Darwinism.<48> It inherently includes the religious belief that wealth-power is a sign of God’s election. That is, out of the masses of people and the multitude of nations, wealth, in and of itself, is thought to indicate God’s approval on men and nations whereas poverty and sickness reflect God’s disapproval.

(It was not until I read this article that I realized that this is a fundamental tenet of Dominionists.

Worldly wealth and power are signs of God's favor -- to attempt to limit or decrease one's wealth and power is to disrespect God.

On the contrary, God's elect on Earth are called upon to increase their wealth and power.

It is not sufficient for a man to be a millionaire, or for a country to have sovereignty within its borders -- a man must strive to increase his wealth as much as possible, and a Dominionist government's behavior toward its neighbors must be "invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity".

Furthermore, any attempt to decrease a person's or a country's wealth and power -- to take from the rich to give to the poor, to reduce military spending and power -- is a direct attack on God.)

If “Secular Humanists are the greatest threat to Christianity the world has ever known,” as theologian Francis Schaeffer claimed, then who are the Humanists? According to Dominionists, humanists are the folks who allow or encourage licentious behavior in America. They are the undisciplined revelers.

Put all the enemies of the Dominionists together, boil them down to liquid and bake them into the one single most highly derided and contaminated individual known to man, and you will have before you an image of the quintessential “liberal” -- one of those folks who wants to give liberally to the poor and needy -- who desires the welfare and happiness of all Americans -- who insists on safety regulations for your protection and who desires the preservation of your values -- those damnable people are the folks that must be reduced to powerlessness -- or worse: extinction. ...snip

Rich people do pay taxes. So What.

http://www.ranknfile-ue.org/uen_taxrich.html
"...The problem is that a number of loopholes and dodges allow the very wealthy to shield their incomes from taxes. Working people have little protection; instead, Congress has closed practically all deductions allowed to workers.

As a result of the deductions and credits available to the wealthy, 998 top earners with adjusted gross income totaling $600 million paid no income taxes at all in 1995. Ninety-seven percent of the super-rich paid less than the top rate of 35 percent rate, 81 percent paid less than 30 percent, 43 percent paid less than a 25 percent rate...snip"


http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/08/17/many-big-corporations-dont-pay-taxes-including-some-federal-contractors/
"This reminded me of a 2004 study by the Center for Tax Justice, which reviewed 275 of the Fortune 500 companies listed at the time. Of those 275 profitable companies, 82 (nearly one-third) of them had paid zero or less in U.S. taxes during at least one year from 2001-2003. "

so how does Bill Gates Pay less income taxes than a person making $80,000

where do you get your information.. the Free Republic..

so do you think there is a difference in someone who has absolutely no disposable income, no retirement, no savings, never goes anywhere, doesn't drink, smoke..nothin, and someone who makes $250 a second/$20,000,000 a day/$7,800,000,000 A YEAR..and pays less than someone making $80 thousand, i make about what he does in a day and a half..and my last pay check was 40% less than i made

Congress has the Consitutional authority to change these laws. I take advantage of every regulation in the tax laws to reduce my taxes. There is nothing wrong with this. So does the guy that has big bucks for income. As long as we allow our Congress to write in loopholes and favors, we have no one to blame except ourselves. We elected them.

everything we try to do, the senate was filibustered over 100 times this last term, i think we should make em read the phone book for a couple months on CSPAN. we don't have the 2/3 Over vote to pass anything at all

there is no way we have been able to do anything in decades..and why is it you don't know that. you are EXCEPTIONALLY ILL INFORMED to call yourself a Democrat.. read the links here..google stuff.. pretty soon you will learn to sort out the crap

you have to read all 3 of John Dean's Trillogy.. 'Conservatives without Conscience' etc books used are really cheap here
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=john+dean&x=19&y=13

and you have to read this.. this explains their whole collective psychotic collective thinking and its history that they rewrote to hide it..
http://www.amazon.com/Shock-Doctrine-Rise-Disaster-Capitalism/dp/0312427999/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230484715&sr=8-1

it takes effort to be informed..

is your point that every tax loop hole, every tax favor that exists in our tax code is there because of this administration? If so it is you that is exceptionally ill informed.

all you have been doing is defending ReThuglican Talking Pionts... and poorly

My statement dealt with the fact that tax loop holes and tax favors are written into legislation by the Congress. It has made little difference over the last 50 years or so which party controlled congress, they all have written loopholes and favors into our tax code. The congress that will be seated in a few days will probably be no different. When they write tax legislation, there will be loopholes and tax favors. The fact that citizens use these loopholes should not be surprising.

http://www.ranknfile-ue.org/uen_taxrich.html
"...The problem is that a number of loopholes and dodges allow the very wealthy to shield their incomes from taxes. Working people have little protection; instead, Congress has closed practically all deductions allowed to workers.

As a result of the deductions and credits available to the wealthy, 998 top earners with adjusted gross income totaling $600 million paid no income taxes at all in 1995. Ninety-seven percent of the super-rich paid less than the top rate of 35 percent rate, 81 percent paid less than 30 percent, 43 percent paid less than a 25 percent rate...snip"


http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/08/17/many-big-co... /
"This reminded me of a 2004 study by the Center for Tax Justice, which reviewed 275 of the Fortune 500 companies listed at the time. Of those 275 profitable companies, 82 (nearly one-third) of them had paid zero or less in U.S. taxes during at least one year from 2001-2003. "

so how does Bill Gates Pay less income taxes than a person making $80,000

where do you get your information.. the Free Republic..

so do you think there is a difference in someone who has absolutely no disposable income, no retirement, no savings, never goes anywhere, doesn't drink, smoke..nothin, and someone who makes $250 a second/$20,000,000 a day/$7,800,000,000 A YEAR..and pays less than someone making $80 thousand, i make about what he does in a day and a half..and my last pay check was 40% less than i made

much of this info was BEFORE THE LAST HELLATIOUS TAX CUT FOR THE RICH

:eyes:

It isn't only the taxpayers who pay more with privatization, but the states who pay for it as well.

Tax the rich, tax those corporate "persons", and end the wars. Problem solved.

This is still part of Gov Pawlenty's national ambitions with his still lapdog devotion to the MN Taxpayers League. :puke:

I am afraid privatizing it would only delay much needed replacement of the bridge.

I have to drive over it whenever I go home to see my parents. After the MN bridge collapse, I'm very afraid to drive over it (no other direct route) and am nervous to drive it. I worry it's next.

many many wealthy people and corporations that can buy up America's infrastructure on the cheap if we let them.

This is no accident.

Yes, some of the very wealthy are losing a lot of money because of the Wall Street debacle, but many are getting it back from the taxpayers--why do you think we cannot get information on where the HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF PAYOUTS ARE GOING???

And it's not just Republicans who are running interference for this heist. It's the Democrats who are beholden to the moneyed interests who are also carrying their water on this.

If the "recession" keeps going at its current rate, we're going to see public properties being sold at fire-sale prices all over America.

Edited for clarification.

It would make more sense when you have a budget crunch to just borrow like the federal government. I'm not sure how it would work...the states could borrow from the federal government, or directly through China, Japan, etc.

Problem is that state deficits in some states would run out of control like wildfire. I could see California getting itself $1 trillion in the hole in no time at all.

Notice government employee compensation is never "slashed" during tough times? :hi: