privatization

Cities & States Selling the Family Silver - WSJ

Submitted by on

The Wall Street Journal has a headline story, Facing Budget Gaps, Cities Sell Parking, Airports, Zoo. Great, cities and states are selling off public assets which we paid for with tax dollars.

Cities and states across the nation are selling and leasing everything from airports to zoos—a fire sale that could help plug budget holes now but worsen their financial woes over the long run.

California is looking to shed state office buildings. Milwaukee has proposed selling its water supply; in Chicago and New Haven, Conn., it's parking meters. In Louisiana and Georgia, airports are up for grabs.

So, who is buying, literally, America away from her citizenry? One is Morgan Stanley of bail out fame, all the while Morgan Stanley has tax havens to avoid paying U.S. taxes.

The most popular deals in the works are metered municipal street and garage parking spaces. One of the first was in Chicago where the city received $1.16 billion in 2008 to allow a consortium led by Morgan Stanley to run more than 36,000 metered parking spaces for 75 years. The city continues to set the rules and rates for the meters and collects parking fines. But the investors keep the revenues, which this year will more than triple the $20 million the city was collecting, according to credit rating firms.

Argentina To Nationalize Private Pensions

Submitted by on

What this means is anyone's guess. Argentina Proposes Nationalization of Pension Fund:

Argentina's leftist President Cristina Kirchner proposed nationalizing the country's private pension funds in what could be seen as a grab for cash and power amid the global economic crisis.

The proposal, which triggered a steep drop on Argentina's stock market after it was leaked by union officials and reported in the Argentine press, reinforces Argentina's image as a pariah in financial circles and represents a repudiation of a system of private pensions that had been in vogue in developing countries. In 2001, Argentina announced the largest sovereign debt default in history.

Brokers work at the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, in Buenos Aires. Argentine stocks fell by more than 11% in reaction to news that the government plans to nationalize private pension funds.

Wall Street Wants your Pension

Submitted by on

Woah, new article from Business Week is pointing to regulators allowing:

The folks who brought you the mortgage mess and the ensuing hedge fund blowups, busted buyouts, and credit market gridlock have another bold idea: buying up and running troubled corporate pension plans. And despite the subprime fiasco, some regulators may soon embrace Wall Street's latest scheme.

In preparation for that moment, the world's biggest big investment banks, insurers, hedge funds, and private equity shops have been quietly laying the groundwork for such deals over the past year. They would be a big prize for Wall Street. The $2.3 trillion pension honey pot has $500 billion in "frozen plans" that are closed to new employees and whose benefits are capped

Nice catch from Business Week!

Passports outsourced

Submitted by on

Washington Times says:

The United States has outsourced the manufacturing of its electronic passports to overseas companies — including one in Thailand that was victimized by Chinese espionage — raising concerns that cost savings are being put ahead of national security, an investigation by The Washington Times has found.