> I'm trying to think what "privatized" means here.
A local government decides they want an airport. They raise the money through taxes, then operate it through user fees. Sometimes they run a deficit and the local tax base pays up. Sometimes they need an upgrade, and they get a block grant from the Federal Government, which got its money from taxes. One day they wake up and say: we're broke, but we have this huge airport! I know, let's sell it to someone else and get all "our" money back.
Not so fast, says Dick Durban:
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110617-709600.html
JUNE 17, 2011, 1:28 P.M. ET Bill Would Mandate Repayment Of Federal Money In Privatizations
By Bob Sechler Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Newly introduced legislation would require U.S. government money spent on state and local transportation projects be repaid before the assets are leased or sold to private operators, potentially crimping an ongoing national push toward privatization.
The bill, by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) ensures "that the interests of the federal taxpayer are protected when a private company seeks to operate a public asset for a profit," Durbin said in a prepared statement Friday.
He singled out in particular the potential privatization of Midway airport in Chicago, saying the city would have to repay "the depreciated value of the roughly $375 million" in federal funds invested in it if the bill becomes law before a deal is struck with a private operator.
[...]