Wall Street's Next Target: Roads and Bridges

By David Bollier, OnTheCommons.org. Posted September 9, 2008.

The New York Times has jumped aboard the corporate cheering squad for
the privatization of AmericaÂ’s bridges and roads.

In a purported news article at the end of August the New York Times
business section gave a big wet kiss to the idea of privatizing the
nation's bridges, roads and civil infrastructure. In a nearly 40
column inches, reporter Jenny Anderson casts investors as thwarted
social workers ready to do their part in helping to fix America's
crumbling infrastructure. Nearly everyone quoted in the story is an
investment banker or investor. Politicians are quoted only to bemoan
the sad state of roads and bridges, cry about their budget deficits,
and wring their hands over the lack of viable solutions.

The obvious solution is private investment. Or at least, that's the
only solution that the Times explores (notwithstanding a misleading
headline on the online version of the story, "Cities Debate
Privatizing Public Infrastructure").