Highwaymen & Privateers

by   |  November 09, 2007

Project Censored is a media research group that compiles an annual list of important news stories that have been overlooked by the country’s national media. High up on their latest ranking of under-reported stories is the stealth attempt to privatize America’s highways by both federal and state governments. According to Project Censored:

[S]tates are selling off our nation’s enormous, and aging, infrastructure to private investors. Proponents are celebrating these transactions as a no-pain, all-gain way to off-load maintenance expenses and increase highway-building funds without raising taxes. Opponents are lambasting these plans as a major turn toward handing the nation’s valuable common asset over to private firms whose fidelity is to stockholders – not to the public transportation system or the people who use it.

Driven by wrong-minded public officials and corporate greed, contracts for public services are being increasingly doled out without regard to cost effectiveness or quality. Privatization is an all too often bad idea as the public ends up paying more for lower quality services. That’s why AFSCME continues to fight politicians who want to send public-sector jobs to private companies. To read more, visit Project Censored’s Top 25 Censored Stories of 2008 and scroll down to number nine.