Privatizing America (HBO)

Public-private partnerships are likely to be a staple of President Trump’s plans to overhaul America’s infrastructure. These arrangements allow private contractors fund public works, such as roads, and then charge people money to use them, usually through tolls.
The deals often end badly for the public. In Texas, the company that built a toll road from Dallas to Austin went bankrupt in less than a decade, and before it could repay millions in federal loans. In Chicago, a 75-year Morgan Stanley-led lease on the city’s parking meters has cost the city millions.
Read: "Trump’s transition looks an awful lot like crony capitalism" - bit.ly/2k5KL7f
Read: "Liberal coders are competing to take out the technology that helped elect Trump" - bit.ly/2jRwdZy
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[@NoahNobody]

$900 a year just to drive on the road to work? That's insane.

[@MegaKopfschmerzen]

Yes, let's share the costs with people who don't drive

[@brianmason1849]

@@MegaKopfschmerzen how many people dont drive it because of heavy tolls.

[@bocajj]

900$ but you won’t pay taxes so it works out

[@exi8550]

@@bocajj no, its 900 on top of taxes

[@bocajj]

@@exi8550 no cause doing this is the last stages of anarchism. In where no government so you wouldn’t pay taxes

[@CHAS1422]

Toll roads are one of the few areas that should never be privatized. America will turn into a fiefdom of toll roads. There will always be a monopoly on the shortest route. Each time a route is bought or sold, the bank note will be paid in interest and the banks make money without production. This idea will bankrupt America. The private toll road next to my neighborhood charges $5.60 to drive 2 miles. People drive 5 miles out of their way to avoid it.

[@broudwauy]

Not to mention, freedom of movement is absolutely CRITICAL to having states' rights and competition between economic sectors. If a person loses their job in one area, completely privatized roads would negate their ability to work or move elsewhere effectively. It's just more efficient for roads to be completely public.

[@Drumsgoon]

privatisation should be free market based, not the cronyism of government priviliges for certain corporations!

[@Doug8521]

Agree... the video is misguiding... that's crony capitalism at its best, not true privatization.

[@dasalekhya]

@Drums free market also means *free movement of labor* and production in *foreign locations* without governmental interruptions ... *_Oh! wait!_*

[@Doug8521]

Free movement as long as the property owner agrees with it

[@Drumsgoon]

#DeepBlue, indeed

[@SidV101]

Econ 101: private markets do a shit job of providing public goods. Infrastructure like roads are the epitome of a public good.

[@wduncani]

They don't care if it's more expensive, it's essentially a transfer payment of taxes to toll road businesses. The entire point is to generate profit for the few at the expense of the taxpayer.

[@LiverbestGibs]

The problem with privatizing toll roads is that there is little room for competition when it comes to roads. Privatization works when customers have choices. Some types of projects are better handled by the government, when competition is virtually impossible.

[@sdrawkcabssa9004]

If we privatize everything, we provide margin for competitive pricing when there are multiple companies competing in a select society, creating lower prices because the consumer wants the most affordable route. Don't let the dangers of crony capitalism sway you, privatizing is not about wringing money out of the individual, it's about marketing a service that is aimed to those who want it, and a competitive market will provide the lowest price, because that's what the consumer wants. This non existent competition you speak of in fact exists, there are a lot of companies that build roads. Competition in a free market goes on in every industry and everyday, all thanks to capitalism. When the government gets involved, private companies start surviving because of parasitic relationships they have with the government, and the consumer gets screwed.

[@sdrawkcabssa9004]

Here's a better explanation of what I mentioned- kzbin.info/www/bejne/anXbiXueYtVghZY

[@danielklein5560]

thats just wrong, roads are a natural monopoly, because of the high fix cost. So the market isnt free to enter and it is actually inefficent to have competition in a natrual monopoly. U either need to provide it puplicly or through private means with price and quality regulation.

[@sdrawkcabssa9004]

Daniel Klein A private road is a private road. just take a different route If it's such a big deal. Now wasnt that easy?

[@sdrawkcabssa9004]

Daniel Klein A high fix cost is not going to prohibit the free market from changing to adapt to the needs of the consumer, that is an issue that is fixed by the private company who built the road. A free market adapts incentives in line to suit the needs of the consumer, Otherwise the private business in subject will not survive. Your reply is a re-wording of the first comment. If you’re going to make such an assertion, I encourage you to back up the statement with numbers, because statistics are calculated values that aggregate data, from which one can draw conclusions from.

[@swaharmaman9410]

Privatising is not a way to make something affordable. Privatising will lead to localised monopolies that can charge high prices on based on a for profit model. I think it is unfair that the government would just sell off the country like this. The problem of it is that these companies will get state funding to do private business! Privatising often leads to corruption.

[@si91]

Privatizing is precisely the way to make something affordable. A private business cannot charge "high prices" that people cannot afford, because then no one will use the service. It is government, on the other hand, that can charge as much as it wants by simply taking more and more tax money from the citizen.

[@JohnSmith-vy4lh]

The IRS is a private for profit company that is not even registered in the US for tax purposes , which is ironic really .

[@orgr3189]

This is why trump wanted power to clear up the way to him and his rich elites

[@Alansaidhello]

Why do private companies charge the citizens to use the roads isn't that what taxes are for?

[@lucasebling7832]

Alton If I got hownit works right the road itself is now property of the company, the government gives them the road (or they buy it) with a contract assuring quality standards for it will be met. After the agreement is made the road belongs to the company and not the goverment, Its private property, so the goverment wont have to pay a thing for that road ever again as long as the company keeps the standard of quality ( if not its given back to the government, maybe even a fine is paid to the goverment), to do that the new owners of the road will have to charge you for your acess to it so they can keep it and also profit from it, this reduces weight in the government when it comes to having to do something on infostructure.

[@lucasebling7832]

Alton also if they now paid the companies for every citizen that crossed the privatized road they would just end up spending more money than before privatization. As they would not only have to pay the money that would go for maintnence but now also the profit margin the company has

[@lucasebling7832]

Alton also if they now paid the companies for every citizen that crossed the privatized road they would just end up spending more money than before privatization. As they would not only have to pay the money that would go for maintnence but now also the profit margin the company has

[@NlneLives210]

Alton so they can give more tax breaks for the wealthy.

[@lucasebling7832]

NlneLives210 Well, when it came to these kinds of privatizations that heppened in my country, taxes didnt change. They did it to mostly free tax money that would be used to keep those roads on something else, on the downside every user of the road now pays more in their life and in the upside a more competent entity is given the rights to take care of it( government here very unreliable) and also more can be invested in other people that dont use those roads. Its a sistem where some win and some loose really, in our case the improvement in the infostructure and the competence of the new keepers was really worth it

[@VICENews]

Public-private partnerships are likely to be a staple of President Trump’s plans to overhaul America’s infrastructure. These arrangements allow private contractors fund public works, such as roads, and then charge people money to use them, usually through tolls. The deals often end badly for the public. In Texas, the company that built a toll road from Dallas to Austin went bankrupt in less than a decade, and before it could repay millions in federal loans. In Chicago, a 75-year Morgan Stanley-led lease on the city’s parking meters has cost the city millions. Read: "Trump’s transition looks an awful lot like crony capitalism" - bit.ly/2k5KL7f Read: "Liberal coders are competing to take out the technology that helped elect Trump" - bit.ly/2jRwdZy

[@requiemforamerica8432]

The government ALREADY CHARGES HUGE TOLLS for roads are you fucking kidding me? that on top of all the taxes and regulation fees it collects

[@tylerclark4463]

RequiemFor America nah in Michigan the only toll I had to pay is to get into the UP

[@2011blueman]

Almost all tolls in the US these days are charged by private companies like EZ-pass that make it more expensive to travel. It's the direct result of Republicans taking over state legislatures and selling off America to private companies.

[@johnaustin5677]

Those private roads are actually well taken care of. We had a public road being worked on in my city and it took almost a year for the project to be completed, it became a total union jerk fest.

[@SpeedBaull]

John Austin lmao and also government road workers take there silly time

[@Tearakan]

Yeah sure making it more difficult for people to go to work will definitely help. Just say to them hey it'll make this one rich guy richer. He'll give you a better job away from those more expensive transportation areas, right? Right?!?

[@HeathWatts]

Exactly! Just put our trust in the rich and the private sector and soon we'll all live in utopia. Ha!

[@admiralpercy]

I drove from Florida to New Hampshire and back over Christmas. NH charged me 75¢. Massachusetts charged me $4. New Jersey charged me $7. New York charged me $7, three different times (so $21). Baltimore charged me $7. Washington, DC charged me $11. NC, SC, VA, GA, and FL charged me nothing. That being said, how drunk was the employee that choose the angle for that GoPro?

[@johndavidtre]

Privatized public services may offer short term relief to taxpayers but long term the public loses. Quality of service goes down and prices go up. A few European countries had issues after privatizing public services such as water. Prices went up, network quality went down. Thankfully a number of cities and countries got out of these shady deals (at a loss!) before things got wildly out of hand. Several state capitol buildings around the United States have been privatized. The user and owner has now become the renters. Short term relief by way of a cash payout to bring some cash in the coffers, but long term its dubious at best. Based on the operational mode of private enterprise whose sole aim is profitability (let's not kid ourselves about "altruistic" objectives), does the public stand a chance?

[@mypapaya590]

Maybe if big businessws pay less taxes, cost will be cheaper?

[@librafever4471]

It cost about $32 to cross the bridge from NJ to NY round trip. I could only dream of relief with those fees

[@rayfordcarpathia4015]

Vice's window camera was pretty sweet. Didn't know what that was at first.

[@billiamc1969]

C470 in Denver is a low use toll road and a rip off at that!!!!

[@dquin0091]

I go through that tunnel everyday for work. It fucking blows. And i would never go to portsmouth for fun bc of the tolls

[@UniversalPotentate]

Huh. It's almost as if private business should stay out of public works projects.

[@mountainman679]

Well of course, look at private prisons. Why have profit motive? Theirs no reason to do so. Why profit off prisoning people, we should be giving rehabilitation. Same thing goes with education and healthcare.

[@gam3rmom3nt3]

I heard that somewhere in miami has parking meters which you need to use a phone and agree to tos

[@fgsddsgf3058]

I live in Northern Virginia, I can barely tell if the road is tolled because of all the confusing signs everywhere.

[@richardb2837]

What we need are high speed public transportation

[@mistermood4164]

roads should never be privatized as there will be monopolies for the shortest/efficient routes.

[@2011blueman]

Too late. EZ-pass already controls a large percentage of the best routes in the Eastern US.

[@CarlosPerez-kc4rc]

Why is that bad? More people choose the short path, they are happy.

[@zacnieprawisz9171]

Carlos Perez It is bad because "free market" doesn't work when monopoly emarges. And one road = monopoly. But it would be stupid and wasteful to have 20 different roads made by different companies just next to each other to compete for a customer. That's why roads should be handled by state. Here, I explained it so simply that you should comprahend it xd

[@ericpaulgoldie]

Who else remembers the Simpson's monorail episode!

[@Mrcharles.]

My god it makes sense!

[@justinbig10]

Why is gov't. not smart enough to figure out this is a bad idea?! The tolls that gov't charges is not enough to keep up with the cost of building maintaining and financing it! Charge a fair price for the tolls that keeps up with inflation, and negotiate a reasonable price with ANY company that helps maintain it! It's not rocket science!

[@dbhupinder91]

first thing America Should do is "STOP SPENDING MONEY ON MILITARY" thats it.

[@IamMclov1n25]

i fucking hate 66 traffic.

[@dasalekhya]

How IRONIC & double standards ... the country that wants to privatize everything ... deems *privatised sex work* as ILLEGAL

[@julius8698]

There is a guy in Denmark that collects payments from a Hwy his company constructed under the bush administration.

[@H1TMAN930927]

we have a similar thing implemented in south africa that is failing, Google E-toll and have a good read... a once public highway which was actually paid to be upgraded from the fifa world Cup,then a company built electronic tolls and only 15% of people actually pay, mainly bussiness who were afraid of law suits. the public hates it and the system is failing. I've never paid a cent and never will.

[@roundsquare6820]

Well South Africa is a lawless shithole. In the US, the citizens tend to comply with the rule of law - in South Africa, saying the wrong thing gets you necklaced.

[@HT.100]

yeah this seems bad

[@matthewhowell8429]

the Hampton roads public didn't stand for the tolls when va was putting them in place. these same arguments were brought to that man's attention before hand. odd how good advice don't mean shit. yours truly port charlotte, Florida

[@kevinnapier1014]

Yes, it would have been really obvious from the start, that the project would have left the city bailing out the low income citizens. I do not believe that outcome wasn't expected.

[@rumthin]

It's hard to believe there are actually some sane republicans out there.

[@dre3k78]

Too bad the one getting sworn in tomorrow isnt one of them.

[@adamgarcia7192]

Neeno Sad!

[@2011blueman]

Don't give him too much credit, he's still irrationally in favor of privatizing a public good (i.e. roads).

[@ronnieDaking]

Bigoted comment is bigoted

[@trancendental5373]

Come to DC and pay 40 bucks to ride 66 and then lmk how you feel.

[@dronetrucker]

He said COSTED MORE, come on dude

[@AnbusKi]

duh

[@lexdelaney2805]

Im for privatized roads, don't like paying tolls? Just tell google to avoid them. Want to get A to B faster? Bite the bullet, pay the toll. I dont want higher taxes because my state builds a road I may or may not use.

[@StarCrusher.]

private toll roads go directly against the constitutional principle of freedom of movement. Building roads that are free to use for everyone and payed for with taxes should be one of the primary goals for government.

[@RealCamSmith]

No that this matter to the awesome content from this video but SH 130 tollway in Austin is no where near Dallas. It starts in a suburb in north Austin and finishes outside of south Austin. And the fact that the company who built the road is now bankrupt is true though.

[@TheUkichannel]

Why not just cap the toll and allow for inflation. Allowing for a decent margin for breathing room and give money jobs.

[@mrpedalsworth]

Is everyone numb? The gasoline and diesel taxes are supposed to fund the roads and road maintenance. Less than 20% of gasoline and diesel fuel taxes are spent on roads!! It’s so HORRIBLY managed, people want privatization OF roads. Which SHOULD negate the reason for the gasoline and diesel taxes. But do you think wasteful government wants to give that up? Really people? The amount of taxes on gasoline and diesel, we SHOULD have the best roads in the world!!! It’s THEE most taxed commodity you buy. And one of the HIGHEST revenues of the government!!!! Wake up!!!

[@EvilSmonker]

Privatization is the proper course of action for bringing America out of debt. It's like people don't like thinking we are trillions in debt.

[@twin-gk8of]

True, debt is a tax on savings. Debt ain't gonna pay itself. Climate change and debt are the biggest threats to property rights imo.

[@mosesking2923]

@@twin-gk8of Climate change is both irrelevant and overexaggerated. Most of the issues climate activists complain about are irrelevant (the extinction of many species doesn't affect us) or easily fixed with new technologies (nuclear). The biggest threat to property rights is a government official with a gun. Nothing more.

[@grozaAC]

It's a privatized toll road but the state law enforcement can still police it and give me speeding tickets.

[@Man69Moose]

Everything that is a private business or corporation is evil. You could look at both sides and make a good video, but you just put your blinders on and made this.

[@Blakhawk1703]

Corps = Corpse = dead entity

[@deprogramm]

Man69Moose not really. Private company's build hospitals and things in which the government cannot afford to do on its own

[@Man69Moose]

Vasting my comment was sarcastic I agree with you

[@shadowinthedark2851]

Nothing is Free

[@obsoleteoptics]

anthony McGarry We all pay for life with death so everything in between should be free.

[@Meirstein]

Roads are funded by gas taxes. Totally different system.

[@obsoleteoptics]

Meirstein Muh roads!

[@roundsquare6820]

Every statement in this video is false. Prior to the 19th century, every road in america was privately financed in the form of toll-turnpikes. When the switch was made to public turnpikes, quality, mileage, and maintenance all went down.

[@johnj3636]

The 66 toll road is bullshit it doesn't work it blocks the fucking right lane and makes 66 a absolute nightmare for anyone trying to get in to falls church in the 4 hour of daily nova rush hour

[@NoelAArias]

All I see is a black screen....where's the video?

[@ngpb17]

I would support tolls if we put them for not profit and just maintaining that particular road and to pay for that particular road. not profit, we are not milk cows people. remember rule of thumb, if it involves the general public it should be public funding. example would be, roads, highways, prisons, police, hospitals, fire departments, internet. it is immoral to make profit out of this so it should be public. think of public funding like a do it yourself type of project. when we do it with public funding we are doing it ourselves not to enrich us but to get a project that would benefit the community. but when we privatized it it becomes a business who’s goal is not the general public but investors. analogy would be, what is cheaper to cut your own lawn or to pay someone’s else to do your lawn? both will have the same results, but if you do it yourself you paid just what you needed to spend to do the project, while paying someone else would be the project plus the profit. Yes I know that we still need to pay the employees doing the actual work, but that is an expense the private company would have as well, the difference is that after paying employees they want even extra for themselves the company while public funding is just to pay for the project and only the workers make money no companies. (by the way, public projects are done by for profit companies so they will make their cut, the difference is that we don’t have to pay forever and we won’t be overcharged as we can just put the companies to compete for the project and we can choose what benefits us best as a community.) the private sector knows this, that is why they invest so much money on misinformation to trick you into accepting this type of corruption. that is why we should never vote for a politician that accepts supper packs and lobbyists, they represent the private sector not the public.

[@purestyle8857]

That’s crony capitalism. The reason it’s so expensive is because there is no competition.

[@mosesking2923]

Exactly. Who cares if rural communities get left behind? Let the free market decide who gets roads and who doesn't.

[@nataliekhanyola5669]

Nope! It's just capitalism.

[@mctwain5319]

Lol, ever seen the brand new US freeways in El Salvador or Kuwait etc. How pathetic, how about a few trillion of your wasted war funds go into the USA? To build four lanes?

[@BowNow]

A Republican admitting that privatisation isn't the necessarily the way??? I guess it's true, on a local level there are sensible and principled Republicans.

[@ronnieDaking]

stereotyoing is bad mmkay

[@manny1006]

This is so agenda driven. what a bunch of falsehoods. 😨😨😨😨😨

[@Alansaidhello]

I know right! I love paying high toll fees while traveling across the country!

[@MrRadiopirate]

Manny Fresh it's simply preposterous to think that a crony capitalist would seek to move all his money-grubbing buddies into more powerful positions!

[@sdrawkcabssa9004]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this just chrony capitalism? True privatization does not burden the Individual within the scope of a free market as seen here.

[@bri1085]

The free market is a myth

[@sdrawkcabssa9004]

Bri10 false. The free market is a myth when the government is involved. If we eliminate large government, the economy will thrive

[@bri1085]

_ Libertarian_ the market will naturally tend towards crony capitalism, the free market simply does not work

[@sdrawkcabssa9004]

Bri10 I think your getting true capitalism and crony capitalism mixed up. Watch this- they explain it better than I ever could: kzbin.info/www/bejne/anXbiXueYtVghZY

[@sdrawkcabssa9004]

Bri10 chrony capitalism can only exist if the government is involved in private industry, and vice versa

[@johnc1014]

People seem to complain about the cost. Yet, we already pay a lot more for a lot less quality infrastructure through taxation. As much as tolls kind of suck, I prefer that over taxes. Forget partnerships; let private companies buy up the roads they want and be responsible for maintaining them. Private companies are far more innovative and conduct their business far more efficiently and effectively than government ever could. Another complaint I'm seeing is a lack of competition. Well, depending on the area, there are usually multiple ways to get to many places. And, if there isn't, then that's a potential area of consumer demand that can be met for profit.

[@Supahfly634]

Why is this likely to be a staple of Trumps presidency? This piece didn't have any reason to come to that conclusion. These partnerships don't even seem to involve the federal government either. The examples given were all state-level deals. I'm not a Trump fan boy btw, just curious about the irresponsible reporting (if that is the case).

[@hiteman7648]

LIBERAL TEARS!!!!!!! HASHAHAHAHAHAHA

[@SD-gy4eu]

How stupid. The govt was built for roads, law enforcement, military. Those are the 3main functions of govt. obviously those shouldn’t be privatized. Privatizing social security will give the AVERAGE American 3X more retirement $ and privatizing VA will give vets better service at a cheaper cost. Let vets choose there own doctor. Let me decide how to invest my social security $. FREEDOM

[@fxvg7091]

Vice did well to allow a republican to speak for such uninterrupted lengths of time. To see a right wing ideology present a such balanced view should abate some of the comment dross.

[@Omegagod7]

near first

[@NlneLives210]

better lower taxes

[@tylerclark4463]

NlneLives210 did you listen to the video, one it cost the state more in tax credits because the poor can't afford it, and have you looked at the trump tax brackets, my taxes are staying at 25% and probably yours to

[@ilkeryoldas]

MAGA !

[@AlaskaFinal]

Oh yeah, I drive on 470 everyday. Nice road.

[@AlaskaFinal]

" *Its discouraged people from using the tunnels* " Uh, yeah, that's what prices do. Encourage people to ration scarce resources. That's a *feature* , not a bug. By discouraging use, you ensure traffic flows are lower. It's quicker to travel then on public roads where that discouragement is not present. A *premium good* , in other words.

[@juandeldiablo696]

Companies going bankrupt yeah that sounds like Trump

[@trem876]

Yes please privatize it all

[@nataliekhanyola5669]

Nope!!!

[@trem876]

@@nataliekhanyola5669 yep!