Daniels Increases Costs By Turning Public Property into a For-Profit Business

This is what happens when you sell off public property to people who want to run it for profit, instead of at cost. Tolls have now risen 89% on the Indiana Toll Road, now owned by Cintra of Spain.

From the Indianapolis Star:

"MERRILLVILLE, Ind. -- Drivers using the Indiana Toll Road started shelling out more cash for fares Thursday as rates went up for the first time in two years.

The cost for cars to drive the 157-mile road from Illinois to Ohio went from $8 to $8.80.

It's the second rate increase since the state leased the Toll Road to a private company. In 2008, the price to go the full length of the road went from $4.65 to $8 for drivers paying cash."

Don't look for Cintra to lay off the toll increases:

"Thursday's price jump won't be the last for Toll Road drivers. The state's lease with the private company allows tolls to go up every July after next year."

Tolls have increased by 89% in the four years since Mitch sold off the Toll Road. Drivers will never have a passable alternative to the Toll Road, allowing drivers to participate in a free market for roads, since the contract signed with Cintra forbids alternative routes from being built or improved.

If Daniels would have allowed the Toll Road to impose rate increases, instead of phonily saying that rates could not be increased, then these rate increases would have been imposed by the State to cover the actual costs of the road. The Public would have been furious to see a profit being made from its travels. Mitch found a way around public accountability. Presently, Cintra is raising toll rates to to recoup its investment of $3.85 billion that it paid to the State, and they are raising rates earn their profit, both at the expense of drivers' pockets. All Mitch did with the sale of the Toll Road was to impose a massive tax on drivers and shift citizen dollars to the government and private industry, all while tiptoeing around the public ire for being known as the guy who raised taxes. Not surprisingly, most Republicans love this proto-Fascism.

How does it benefit a citizen to have the public treasury receive $3.85 B for a public asset, only to be forced to repay that $3.85 billion to a private company, while being forced to pay higher use charges for the public asset? This deal is a massive net loss for each citizen.

This bad deal is crony capitalism and corporatism, at its worst.