Giuliani Cashing in BIG on Privatized Texas Highway

[Octafish]

From our good friends at Online Journal:

Bracewell & Giuliani, the ‘guiding’ law firm on the privatization of Texas State Highway 121

By Jerry Mazza
Online Journal Associate Editor
Jun 8, 2007, 00:32

What, you didn’t know a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination is a partner in the Dallas law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani? It’s among the nation’s largest, with 400 attorneys and nine offices worldwide. And now B&G is exclusively representing the Spanish company Cintra through the privatization of Texas State Highway 121. Anybody want to call Congress and let them know? It’s right here in the linked March 26 Dallas Business Journal.

Yup, Rudy’s at it again, milking the old cash cow, the 9/11 sheriff routine to those sympathetic (rich and wannabe richer) Texans. The client, Cintra, has signed an agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation to finish the State Highway 121 toll road by 2011, a quarter century faster than possible through traditional sources (i.e. American workers), according to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). What you should also know is that the toll road is part of the NAFTA Superhighway and construction of the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC).

Independent Journalist Cliff Kincaid nails it in his article Giuliani Linked To “NAFTA Superhighway”: “Evidence shows that NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement involving the U.S., Canada and Mexico, is being expanded without congressional approval or oversight as part of a plan to create an economic and political entity known as the North American Union.” This is “the project that has people in Texas and around the nation up in arms.”

Kincaid quotes freelance writer Dianne M. Grassi, who originally broke the story of Rudy’s law firm on the TTC toll-road project. She comments, “Most interesting to the whole story is not only has Giuliani’s involvement in the NAFTA Superhighway not ever having been publicly addressed, but how a foreign company is awarded the building of a mass highway system, versus maintaining it, for the first time in U.S. history, and negotiated by the law firm of the top Republican candidate running for President of the United States.”

Grassi also points out that “Cintra joined with San Antonio, TX-based Zachry Construction Corp. to help land the contracts, in which Zachry owns a 20% interest. The Cintra-Zachry proposal for TTC-35 includes a private investment of up to $6 billion in upfront payments for the complete construction, design and operation of a 316-mile toll road between Dallas and San Antonio, giving Cintra the right to set tolls and keep toll road profits for a period of 50 years, as it will for each road it has contracted..”

CONTINUED...

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_2064.shtml

EDIT: Misspelled a turd's name and added links for readers.

Who loves ya, Rudy?

[gulfcoastliberal]

1. NAFTA is illegal b/c it's a treaty which means it needed 2/3rds senate approval

How they got around this I do not know. But the transnationals have decreed that sovereign states are "quaint" and should be dropped.

check out:

www.spp.gov

www.nascocorrider.com

http://www.fina-nafi.org/eng/fina/presentation.asp?count=eng

http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/NWO/North_American_Forum.htm

[Octafish]

2. The New Feudalism

The Big Money boys change their portfolios to match what's making the biggest return. The workers can only do what they can to make a buck.

Critics say NAFTA's 10-year record validates dire predictions

By DON McINTOSH, Associate Editor

On Jan. 1, NAFTA — the North American Free Trade Agreement —will turn 10.

On or around its birthday, expect to hear its supporters call NAFTA an economic success story.

You’ll hear that trade has increased under NAFTA. And it’s true: The total value of trade between the three countries — Canada, the United States, and Mexico — has more than doubled in 10 years, from $306 billion a year to $621 billion a year.

You’ll be told U.S. exports to Mexico and Canada increased under NAFTA — from $142 billion to $263 billion a year. Also true.

But as for the other side of the equation — imports — don’t expect the same interests that want to expand NAFTA to Central America and the entire Western Hemisphere to mention the dramatic increase in the U.S. trade deficit.

That’s because NAFTA, a treaty that was sold to U.S. audiences as a job booster, has done exactly what its critics said it would — led to job losses in the United States.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the trade negotiating arm of the White House, is reporting in several recently released “fact sheets” that NAFTA is a success, saying it resulted in the creation of 900,000 U.S. jobs in the export sector.

“That’s like counting only deposits and not withdrawals in your checking account balance,” says international economist Robert Scott of the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-backed think tank based in Washington, D.C.

Sure, U.S. exports to Mexico increased, Scott says, but imports increased even more. The year before NAFTA took effect was the last year the U.S. enjoyed a trade surplus with Mexico. Last year, the U.S. imported $136 billion of goods from Mexico, and exported $107 billion, for a trade deficit of $29 billion.

And every dollar spent on goods made in Mexico is a dollar that did not employ a U.S. worker to make the same item. Trade deficits mean job losses.

CONTINUED...

http://www.nwlaborpress.org/2003/12-19-03NAFTA.html

Is it any wonder the crazy monkey works to eliminate inheritance taxes?

Thanks for the important links, gulfcoastliberal. In reality, we also are brothers and sisters to our friends to the south and north. Our mutual enemy is the 21st century slavemaster.

[gulfcoastliberal]

7. We're back to lords and serfs in our neo-feudal age.

I think things are worse than the robber barons of the Great Gatsby era - at least then people either read books or nothing at all, without any TV propaganda telling them what to think. People read The Jungle and demanded meaningful laws and standards for food purity. Now we read the USDA appealing Creekstone's initial victory in their suit aginst USDA to allow them to test for mad cow. The government is actively engaging in corporate socialism/activism and no one cares. The apathy is astounding. The old bread and circuses trick lulls the populace into meekly accepting tyranny and disenfranchisement. Another NAFTA legacy is the dismantling of Canada's Medicare system. If the top 1% is implementing policy, you can be sure it's not in anyone's interest who isn't at least a billionaire.

[earthboundmisfit]

3. If Repub voters know about this it'll kill Rudy's chances of nomination

At least I'd think it would - it sort of cancels out his "America's Mayor" act...

[Octafish]

4. The Truth is a freedom fighter's best weapon.

Truth also is what makes democracy work.

You are absolutely correct, earthboundmisfit. Once Mr. and Mrs. Republics find out the true nature of Mayor Take-the-Money-and-Run he hasn't got a chance.

What do we have on Sen. Fredneck?

[earthboundmisfit]

6. What I find interesting

is the reichwing always carping about Dem "East Coast" and "Hollywood" types - and who do they end up favoring for '08? Yup, an East Coaster and a Hollywood "star". Go figure.

[formercia]

9. Even Town Hall is ranting about this highway

I think you're right.

So, Rudy is a Texan now?

[reprehensor]

5. Giuliani's campaign don't wanna talk about that.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4371953721707339623

[Octafish]

10. Some video, that.

Since when is it a crime to have a free press?

BTW: Giuliani's spokesfellah smirked when asked about 9-11. Nice.

[formercia]

8. How CINTRA bought a 75 Year lease on a major toll road for 10 cents/$

http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:sNr_2N5PjGUJ:www.fhwa.dot.gov/ppp/indiana_tollway.htm

The original disappeared....

Ten cents on the dollar up front.

Guess who pays off the loans?

[Octafish]

11. The foolish plan to sell American toll roads to foreign companies

Would the payee be the same as the fuckee, viz a viz, the U.S. taxpayer?

Lost Highway

The foolish plan to sell American toll roads to foreign companies.

By Daniel Gross
Slate.com
Posted Wednesday, March 29, 2006, at 4:56 PM ET

For rent: U.S. toll booths

If a governor told you there were a way to spread pork, raise funds for infrastructure investment, promote jobs, avoid raising taxes, and put a dent in the trade deficit—all in one fell swoop—you might think he had a bridge to sell you. And you'd be right. Only in this case, it's a toll road. And instead of a sale, how about a long-term lease?

Earlier this month, in a triumph for Gov. Mitch Daniels, Indiana's House narrowly approved his proposal to lease the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road, which spans the northern part of the state, for $3.85 billion to a joint venture of Cintra, a Spanish company, and Australia's Macquarie Bank. The two companies have been active in the U.S. road business. In 2004, the two inked a 99-year lease for the 7.8-mile elevated Chicago Skyway. Last year, Macquarie completed its acquisition of the Dulles Greenway outside Washington, D.C. And Cintra, which manages toll roads in Europe and the Americas, is a strategic partner to the Texas state government in the planned Trans-Texas Corridor. There are likely more such deals to come.

For Daniels—who failed to live up to his nickname ("The Blade") when he served as director of the Office of Management and Budget in the first Bush administration—the 75-year lease is an elegant solution. The state needs billions of dollars to invest in new roads. Getting the cash upfront will allow Daniels to speed up construction on needed infrastructure projects, create new jobs, and fund his Clintonian Major Moves initiative. (Here's a list of projects to be funded and a fact sheet on the deal.) And by raising the cash from foreigners, he's doing his part to rein in the pernicious current-account deficit. "Too often in Indiana, we see Hoosier dollars and jobs leaving the state. Major Moves is an exciting opportunity to recapture U.S. dollars by attracting foreign investment, and use them to create jobs for Hoosiers," he said.

What's in it for the foreign companies? Huge potential profits. Gigantic, steady profits. Toll roads are an incredible asset class. They're often monopolies. They can support debt, since they provide a recurring guaranteed revenue stream that is likely to rise over time, as more people take to the roads and tolls increase. According to Cintra, the Indiana Toll Road generated $96 million in revenues in 2005, and Cintra expects a 12.5 percent internal rate of return on its investment. The heavy lifting has already been done: The state or federal governments have acquired the land and rights of way, built the roads and maintained them for years, and enacted toll increases. All the private companies have to do is deliver cash upfront, maintain the roads, and collect the windfall. The buyers can also increase their profits by making toll roads run more efficiently with technology. After assuming control of the Chicago Skyway, the Cintra-Macquarie consortium installed electronic toll equipment on some lanes. And by refinancing nimbly, companies can cash out. Last year—just seven months into its 99-year lease—Cintra announced that it had recovered 44 percent of its initial investment in the Chicago road through refinancing.

CONTINUED...

http://www.slate.com/id/2138950/

Betcha Rudy's "finder's fee" was more than most Indiana municipalities rake in from their taxes.

[formercia]

13. In the long run, the taxpayer is the fuckee.

Most states let the taxpayer vote on bond issues to fund infrastructure projects. This was just a creative way to cut the taxpayers/voters out of the loop and levy an indirect tax.

CINTRA gets a 12.5% return but if a bond had been voted on, the rate probably would have been lower. I don't know what tax-free municipal bonds are paying these days, but it must be pretty low.

[Kurovski]

12. K&R. (nt)