Simple but basic question -- and proposal -- about ports and policy [View All]

[Armstead]

What would be wrong with pushing a policy in which entities would be formed to operate individual port facilities as public ventures, instead of turning them all o0ver to outside mega operators.

These could either be publicly held municipal corporations, or private entities operating under charter with strict controls for acountability (like the old blue-chip utility stockes were).

This would be a return to the idea that the public infrastructure should be public. A step away from the mania of privitization of everything.

In economic terms, it wpould also be an example of rebuilding the domestic economy, by restoring the idea of a multiplicity of interests, rather than the consolidation of everything into the hands of elite global oligarchs.

In terms of security, this would also be done in conjunction with a coordinated national policy of greater controls and examination of cargoes.

Not a perfect solution, but at least it would be a step towards reasserting the idea that eonomies should be based in the communities that are effected by economic activity, instead of nebulous Overlords of Global Capital.