The Selling Of Texas

Read an article today titled "Lake deal taps new funding for water" in the Houston Chronicle.  This story is yet another indication of the lengths politicians will go to sell public assets for private gain. In this instance, the East Texas River Authority wants to sell 47% of the water rights of Lake Columbia to a private equity firm for about half of the funding necessary to convert it into a reservoir, approximately $160 million.  The equity firm would then be free to sell their 47% of the water rights. 

 This is an increasingly tiresome theme in the past generation. Whether it's Rick Perry pushing the Trans Texas Corridor and selling the toll rights for 50 years to a Spanish conglomerate, or Sempra Energy out of California wanting 3.2 million gallons of water a day from Lake Conroe to run a natural gas fired power plant, our state's assets are increasingly forfeit to an increasingly corrupt political culture.

 

Beyond the numerous instances of politicians lining their pockets, the number one cause for this trend is berserk public spending that has bankrupted government at all levels. Simply put, the private sector has been invited in because there is no more money that can be confiscated through taxes and there is no further credit to exploit. Private funding and the fire-sale pricing on our natural resources are simply other means for the Usual Suspects to remain politically viable today while saddling future generations with more and more debt, the irony of course being that - even as we go downhill - there's still money to be made.

 

Meanwhile, OffHisMeds is once again left to wonder why it is that more people aren't in jail, or at least rejected by Polite Society.
-------------------------------------------------------------
A tiresome theme

The story "Lake deal taps new funding for water" (Page A1, Friday) is yet another indication of the lengths politicians will go to sell public assets for private gain. In this instance, the East Texas River Authority wants to sell 47 percent of the water rights of Lake Columbia to a private equity firm for about half of the funding necessary to convert it into a reservoir, approximately $160 million.

This has become an increasingly tiresome theme. Whether it's Texas Gov. Rick Perry pushing the Trans-Texas Corridor and selling the toll rights for 50 years to a Spanish conglomerate, or Sempra Energy out of California wanting 3.2 million gallons of water a day from Lake Conroe to run a power plant, our state's assets are increasingly hostage to a corrupt political culture.

The No. 1 cause for this trend is berserk public spending that threatens to bankrupt government at all levels. Simply put, the private sector has been invited in because there is no more money that can be confiscated through taxes and there is no further credit to exploit.

Private funding and the fire-sale pricing on our natural resources are simply other means for the usual suspects to remain politically viable today while saddling future generations with more and more debt, the irony of course being that, even as we go downhill, there's still money to be made.

Pete Smith, Cypress

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/letters/article/Letters-A-tiresome-theme-4071511.php