"TxDOT can no longer plead poverty." It just received a Christmas gift in the form of a big fat check - in the amount of "$3.197 Billion from NTTA for the rights to build tolled express lanes on 121 State Highway" says TexasCloverleaf blog. And don't forget that $5 Billion infusion they will get via the constitutional amendment that just passed just weeks ago.
12/03/2007
TxDOT ain't Poor No More!
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This may be off topic for this thread but it is most important.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/73372
That is a link to the latest issue of Newsweek magazine pushing the Trans Texas Corridor and lying to their readers. This time they are trying to cast aspersions on Ron Paul right in with calling everyone who knows what the NAFTA corridors are really all about "conspiracty nuts".
People are waking up to Newsweek and Washington Post and of course locally the Austin Statesman newspaper.
Read the comments at the end of this article. Most enlightening.
Hi anonymous...thanks for the Newsweek site. I just posted a comment. I don't think Americans understand this issue of having their public assets sold (aka. STOLEN) by their government, and then sold off to huge corporations. The corporations, in turn, pay large amounts to the government representatives at campaign time for their re-election. Along with our infrastructure, there are other areas of our government where our public assets are being turned over to private corporations that stand to make huge profits and have no accountability to the taxpayer. (A couple of examples include: new legislation that permits our Texas healthcare system to turn over some of their health cases to private HMOs, and throughout the duration of the war in Iraq, our American military has turned over security to private profiteers.) I don't think Americans understand these issues, so it will be some time before they are debated fully in main stream media outlets. I think Ron Paul did a pretty good job of explaining it during the CNN YouTube debates...at least he brought it up.
Anyway, back to the original post about TXDOTs huge financial gain...Does this qualify under Sarah Eckhardt's Amendment V of the Phase II toll vote in October..."Amendment V, the last one suggested by Eckhardt, says that if and when another funding source becomes available, the tolls will be phased out."
Probably NOT! But it sure would be nice :o)
#2, I like the way you think...
#2, or anyone, please email Sarah and ask, and let me know her response.
Thanks
Sal
Hi Sal,
I did just that, and I got an email from Sarah at 4:20 this afternoon. This is what she wrote to me.
"Of course the argument from TxDOT is that all that money is necessary for
maintenance of current lane miles. Assuming that there is not 8.2 billion in
maintenance need in the State, do you think borrowed money (i.e. the $5 billion
borrowed on general revenue) should be considered an alternate source? My
intent in proposing Amendment V is that an alternate source would be a revenue
stream other than debt. Such large scale borrowing for such basic government
operations makes me queasy. We have the taxing capacity to pay as we go if our
Legislature and the People of Texas have the will for fiscal prudence.
Otherwise, we're just passing the (much inflated) buck to our grandchildren."
- SE
Interesting, Huh?
Please forward that email to me at sal@texastollparty.com, so I may confirm it's authenticity and call her to ask her further questions.
Thank You,
Sal
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