Amost everyone agrees that Mayor Richard M. Daley’s parking meter lease was an epic civic fiasco. But one bad deal shouldn’t cause us to write off all long-term privatizations. If Chicago’s 2008 leasing venture was a disaster, former Gov. Mitch Daniels’ Indiana Toll Road lease was the complete opposite. Done right, privatization can be a boon. Yet […]
By Jeffrey Dorfman Last week witnessed a tragic train derailment on the Amtrak line that connects major East Coast cities. While the exact cause of the accident is not known yet, within two days liberal politicians had seized on the occasion to demand larger subsidies for Amtrak. In fact, the events of last week show […]
The big-bank bailouts during the financial crisis angered many people, including myself. Some have suggested that state- or city-owned banks could be a substitute for big banks and eliminate many of the problems associated with them, ranging from bailouts to consumer abuses, conflicts of interest and sometimes outright corruption. Public banking options are currently under […]
The United States Postal Service (USPS) lost $5.5 billion last year. That is the eighth annual loss in a row and the third-highest ever. The only silver lining is that the loss was below the red-ink tsunami of $15.9 billion in 2012. Why does the federal government deliver the mail? Why does it have a […]