After spending abuses, taxpayers aren’t buying the line that govt lacks money

Link to article here. The most telling finding in this poll on taxes and govt. spending:

"In Mr. Winston's survey, 75% of respondents agreed that, 'Taxes should not be increased as long as Congress continues to waste the tax money it already receives.' Only 23% did not."


ON THE HILL: GOP Tax Dilemma
After years of waste in Congress, voters aren't buying the party's fiscal message.
By Stephen Moore - WSJ
Published: 10-09-07

A few weeks ago Republican leaders gathered on Capitol Hill to hear from their top pollsters and pundits about how they can win back the votes of independent voters. Some of the attendees are still in a state of cardiac arrest over what they learned.

America's swing voters, especially the suburban "security moms," who abandoned the GOP in droves in 2006 still hold Republicans in very low regard. What has party tacticians especially spooked is that these independents are apparently not much attracted to what the Republicans are saying about taxes.

That's a bitter pill for party leaders to swallow, because for 25 years the anti-tax banner has been a political trump card for conservative candidates. A top strategist at the Republican National Committee who attended the meeting told me: "Our tax message has worn thin."
Well, that's not exactly true.


It is true that the GOP message on taxes needs a makeover, perhaps a radical one -- and the party's congressional leaders had better figure this out soon: The big tax fight starts as early as next week when House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangle unveils his multibillion dollar soak-the-rich tax hike plan to pay for middle-class Alternative Minimum Tax relief. So let's review some of the key attitudinal shifts of voters on taxes as revealed in recent polls and focus-group findings.

First, the not-so-good news for the GOP.

Most voters are unpersuaded by the Republican message that the Bush tax cuts were a resounding success that pumped the economy back to life. Worse, the key independent voters are actually repelled by that message.

"It crashes like the Hindenburg," says Richard Thau, who has been monitoring swing voter sentiments across the nation. Why? Because politicians who boast about the rosy economy seem out of touch, even delusional, given the rising costs of gasoline, health insurance and college tuition.

The reality, of course, is that the investment tax cuts did help create seven million jobs and did steer the economy out of recession. That doesn't matter to these "stressed out" voters, as Mr. Thau calls them. The Bush tax cuts are a bridge to the past, not the future, to borrow a Clintonite term. Moreover, because local property and school taxes have been skyrocketing, many independent voters scratch their heads and wonder: What tax cuts?

There is more deflating news.

Unlike in the 1980s and '90s, voters are today less attracted to talk of new tax cuts, which they think are pie-in-the-sky, given the current war costs and budget-deficit. Nor are they averse to raising taxes on "the wealthy," a group they are persuaded is taking advantage of tax loopholes to avoid paying their fair share.

That the richest 10% already pay two-thirds of the income taxes isn't well understood. One strong defense mechanism against the left's class warfare tax policy is that roughly half of voters are convinced that when politicians say they are only going to soak the rich, they fear their own tax bills will go up.

There is another silver lining for the GOP: The Democrat's tax-happy policies are an even less palatable message to voters.

Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, who has sat in the GOP tax strategy sessions tells me that "an overriding concern of economically anxious voters today is that they don't see their own taxes rise."

Pollster David Winston, who's been testing the tax issue for Republicans, agrees with that assessment. When Mr. Winston asked a national sample of registered voters last month, "Do you believe or not believe this statement: Given the cost of living these days, now is not the time to raise taxes," 65% believe now isn't the time to raise taxes, while only 31% believe it is.

There is another GOP imperative: The anti-tax message must be linked to wasteful government spending.

"There's no question that for seven out of 10 American voters, wasteful government spending is one of the largest problems in Washington," says pollster Tony Fabrizio. "For many of these voters it's a bigger issue than taxes."

All of the polling consistently finds that voters believe about 40 cents of every dollar spent by Washington is wasted. So this widespread aversion to the way government mishandles money may be the best shield against tax hikes -- at all levels of government.

In Mr. Winston's survey, 75% of respondents agreed that, "Taxes should not be increased as long as Congress continues to waste the tax money it already receives." Only 23% did not.

Perhaps the most encouraging poll finding is that Americans fully understand the link between a strong economy and deficits. In 2006 federal revenues increased by a world record $250 billion, because of surging employment, corporate profits, and stock values. No Hillary Clinton tax hike could have possibly raised that kind of money.

This is a nation that instinctively gets the supply-side message that putting people to work yields more tax revenues than a strategy of weighing down businesses and workers with tax hikes, which explains this stunning finding: When Mr. Winston's poll asked, "Which approach is more likely to increase federal revenues?" 81% said "increasing economic growth" while only 13% said "increasing taxes."

So the tax issue is still radioactive with most voters, and the GOP would be foolhardy to run and hide from it.

That's especially true because if the economy slows down in the coming months due to the housing credit crunch, aversion to higher taxes is likely to intensify.

"Voters' biggest economic concern is whether they will have enough money to meet their own needs," says Sen. Kyl. He says that if Republicans are going to win in 2008, they have to persuade voters that Democratic tax hikes "will make things worse" for the economy and their own personal finances.

Fortunately, this message has the added attraction that it's not just pollster-driven spin. It's the truth.

Mr. Moore is senior economics writer for the Wall Street Journal editorial page.

City to install surveillance cameras for "crime prevention," but admits it's to "monitor" highways

Link to article here. Note the section that reveals the REAL REASON the city wants these surveillance cameras is to monitor traffic on Hwy 40 to check license plates and registrations. How can this be legal? Government should not have the authority to do random checks on law-abiding citizens. This authority should only be used if the driver is committing a crime. Note the Mayor's cavalier attitude toward BIG DADDY GOVERNMENT and a surveillance society...everyone does it, so why shouldn't the city make a little money off of monitoring its citizens by fishing for minor infractions like lapsed registrations rather than apprehending violent criminals and using our resources to retrofit crumbling bridges and streets (read about how a San Diego street collapsed engulfing 6 homes)?

City passes camera law
Aberdeen agencies may now require surveillance devices in developments
By Madison Park
Sun Reporter
October 7, 2007

Hoping to deter crime by expanding the use of surveillance cameras, Aberdeen passed a measure that empowers the city government and police to require cameras in new developments.

The Police Department, the Department of Planning and Community Development, and the Department of Public Works will decide whether a new residential, commercial or industrial development must install cameras at "strategic locations" before a development permit is issued.

The City Council passed the measure, which becomes effective next week, by a 4-1 vote.

Cameras installed at new developments will be connected to a watch room at the police station, Mayor S. Fred Simmons said.

Simmons said the police chief will work with the other departments to study the feasibility of installation and check whether a camera is "wanted and necessary" at new developments.

But the ordinance does not spell out guidelines for determining whether a new development will be required to have cameras, which concerned the lone dissenter on the council vote, Ruth Elliott.

"We have no internal procedures or policies on this," Elliott said. "It is vague, and you can read in between the lines."



Though crime is decreasing in Aberdeen, the city is seeking to prevent crime by expanding the camera program, Simmons said. The city installed cameras this year at two troubled intersections: one on Edmund and Washington streets and the other on East Bel Air and Aberdeen avenues.

The cameras can zoom in, rotate 360 degrees, and are monitored from the city's police station. Footage from the cameras has been used to prosecute drug cases.

"The cameras are going to see what the police officers are going to see," Simmons said. "It's another set of eyes. That's all."

Surveillance cameras are a familiar sight in larger cities such as New York and Chicago. In Baltimore, a network of about 400 surveillance cameras is in use. And smaller Maryland towns, including Preston and Ridgely in Caroline County, use surveillance cameras. The Harford County Sheriff's Office has been looking into bringing cameras to Edgewood.

Law enforcement officials have credited the cameras with providing information about suspects such as descriptions and license plate numbers.

Simmons said he is interested in expanding the camera program in Aberdeen to monitor traffic on U.S. 40, using cameras that can read license plate numbers and run them through a computer database to check whether a car is stolen or the registration is expired.

"You can't go to a supermarket, the ATM, or a drugstore without being camera'ed," Simmons said. "They're all camera'ed. ... Look up and there's three or four white cameras capturing everything on the state highway. We live in that age."

Elliott voiced discomfort with that notion.

"I don't care to have cameras everywhere in the city," the councilwoman said. "I'm supportive of having cameras in areas where there are problems."

Elliott said the ordinance doesn't protect average residents.

"Whatever that's caught on camera, that may not be of a criminal aspect, just a personal thing could be used depending on who is looking at those tapes," she said. "That info could be released to the wrong people - that's why we need tighter procedures and policies."

Elliott expressed concern that the two-sentence ordinance gives broad authority to the city without laying out parameters about how the city will determine whether a development should have cameras.

But Simmons said, "The reason why it's left open is that the whole landscape changes all the time."

Melissa Ngo, senior counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, also questioned an ordinance that lacked guidelines on determining where cameras would be required.

"How are they going to decide?" said Ngo, whose Washington-based organization studies civil liberty and privacy issues. "If this is going to be low-income development, are they going to watch over the poor people? If this is going to be fancy condos, are they going to decide that they don't need to look over those people?"

TxDOT's "funding shortfall" claim falling on deaf ears

TxDOT funding gripes get cool reception
by Christine DeLoma
Lone Star Report
October 2, 2007

As lawmakers take a deeper look at the implications of leasing state roads to private contractors, state transportation officials are fighting back – warning lawmakers there will soon be a shortage of funds for transportation projects.

It’s a showdown over the private toll road moratorium.

No more money? Transportation Commission chairman Ric Williamson sounded the alarm at the Sept. 27 commission meeting, saying the private toll road moratorium, along with rising highway costs and federal grant cuts, may cause the agency to scale back its plan to build new roads throughout the state.

The warning is nothing new. Williamson has talked in the same vein for several months. Now, deep-seated mistrust between many lawmakers and the agency is causing the alarm to fall on deaf ears.

Rep. Joe Pickett (D-El Paso), for example, who attended the meeting, was quoted in the Austin American-Statesman as saying, “[I]t’s always gloom-and-doom” with the Department of Transportation (TxDOT).

Williamson has repeatedly criticized the Legislature for taking away the agency’s primary tool in raising funds to build new roads, the use of comprehensive development agreements (CDA’s) with private developers.

Lawmakers had a variety of concerns over the length of contract agreements, the setting of toll rates, the inclusion of non-compete clauses, and the buy-back provisions. Accordingly, legislators voted for a two-year moratorium (with several exceptions for urban areas) on CDA’s.

Study committee excludes Krusee. During the private toll road moratorium, lawmakers will study the use of CDA’s in building private toll roads. Speaker Tom Craddick on Sept. 27 named three members to the Legislative Study Committee on Private Participation in Toll Projects.

“This session, the issue of toll roads built with private equity became a matter of much concern among the Legislature and the general public,” Craddick said. “It is my hope that this committee will come up with substantive recommendations so that we can resolve conflicts on this issue.”

Craddick named the following members: Reps. Aaron Peña (D-Edinburg), Larry Phillips (R-Sherman) and Wayne Smith (R-Baytown). Missing from the committee is the primary defender of CDA’s, Transportation chairman Mike Krusee (R-Round Rock). Lt. Gov. David Dewhust and Gov. Rick Perry have yet to make their appointments.

Court says TxDOT advertising OK
Toll road opponents were rebuffed this week in their efforts to stop TxDOT’s campaign extolling the virtues of toll roads in Texas.

State Dist. Judge Orlinda Naranjo denied San Antonio Toll Party Terri Hall’s request for a temporary injunction on TxDOT’s $9 million “Keep Texas Moving” advertising campaign. Naranjo said the Legislature gave TxDOT the legal authority to promote its activities throughout the state.

TxDOT is using taxpayer funds to promote the use of toll roads and the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor through a multi-media campaign using radio, TV, print, and Internet to solve the state’s traffic congestion problems.

At an expected second hearing next week the state Attorney General’s office is predicted to move for dismissal. Hall and her lawyers will allege that TxDOT, contrary to state law, advanced a political rather than an educational campaign.

Paxton asks for interim charge
Meanwhile, Rep. Ken Paxton (R-McKinney) has requested that the Speaker issue an interim charge for the Legislature to study taxpayer lobbying.

“The Texas Department of Transportation has recently been called into question for spending taxpayer money promoting the Trans Texas Corridor and other projects,” Paxton said. “While I appreciate the Department’s efforts to share with the public information regarding its initiatives, I believe the Legislature has a responsibility to ensure that state resources are spent efficiently. For this reason, I have requested an interim charge to research the use of public money for advertising government programs, as I believe the government should not spend the money raised from taxpayers to lobby the public.”

Tolling existing interstates?
When lawmakers learned TxDOT was lobbying Congress for the authority to buy a portion of our federal highways in order to put toll plazas on them, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison quickly crafted an amendment to ban the idea outright.

However, as with most legislative wrangling, the content of the legislation has changed. Hutchison has teamed up with Pennsylvania Rep. John E. Peterson to help secure the provision to the Fiscal Year 2008 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations bill. The most recent iteration of the ban now would allow states to opt-in to a one-year ban on tolling existing interstate highways.

The other major change to her proposal: Individual states would be allowed to toll newly constructed roads or lanes.

Hutchison said she will work for a national prohibition on tolling existing federal highways in 2009.

Currency "cold war" with China

Link to article here. Trade and transporting the influx of Asian goods into the U.S. via Mexico is the primary reason for the Trans Texas Corridor. Considering our massive $230 billion trade deficit with China alone, it's not hard to fathom that these failed trade policies and the rapidly declining U.S. dollar will quickly bring America to its knees economically. Trade has now become a national security issue.

Are Iran, Russia, China behind dollar's free-fall?
Some see 'Currency Cold War' meant to bring U.S. to its knees
October 2, 2007
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON – The hottest selling book in China right now is called "Currency Wars," which makes the case that the U.S. Federal Reserve is a puppet of the Rothschilds banking dynasty and it has persuaded some top officials Beijing should resist America's demands to appreciate its own undervalued currency, the yuan.

This might not be news of concern to most Americans if the U.S. dollar were not in precipitous free-fall, having reached record lows against the euro yesterday.

What would it mean if China ever threw its economic weight around by dumping dollars in a major way?

Suffice it to say it is referred to in some quarters as China's financial "nuclear option," because it would be the economic equivalent of detonating a thermonuclear weapon in the world's financial markets.


But the American dollar's fate is hardly in the hands of the Chinese alone. Other foreign parties suspected of participating in a new "Currency Cold War" are Iran, Russia and Venezuela.

Diane Francis, a financial reporter for the National Post in Canada, says it plainly and boldly: "There is a Currency Cold War being waged by Russia, Iran and various allies such as Venezuela."

The grand strategy being engineered by Vladimir Putin, she writes, is to force the use of euros as the international monetary standard as a transition to the Russian ruble.

"This is simply a monetary version of the old Cold War, minus the missiles," she writes.

Experts don't see any short-term reprieve for the falling value of the dollar. Kathy Lien, chief currency strategist with DailyFX.com in the US, told Bloomberg she expects the American dollar to slide even further, forcing more lending rates cuts in the U.S. to stave off recession.

"It seems like every single passing day we have a new record low in the dollar, and a new record high in the euro, and it's driven by the fact that U.S. data is continuing to deteriorate," she said.

If other nations do not follow the U.S. in cutting rates, the slide in the value of the dollar would most likely continue.

If the dollar trend continues spiraling downward, the risk is that nations like China – or Japan or Saudi Arabia – which have been buying U.S. Treasury bonds and thereby funding America's deficit, would stop that practice.

That would be the nuclear option.

China, with $1.3 trillion in foreign exchange reserves as a result of the massive and growing $260 billion U.S. trade deficit, has taken huge losses with the falling dollar, given that some 80 percent of China's $1.3 trillion in foreign reserves is held in U.S. dollar assets, largely in U.S. treasury securities.

Meanwhile, Song Hongbing, the author of China's runaway bestseller, "The Currency Wars," says he's pleasantly surprised at the 200,000 copies his book has sold. He is probably not eager to see the dollar punished as he lives in Washington, D.C.

"I never imagined it could be so hot and that top leaders would be reading it," he says during a book tour in Shanghai. "People in China are nervous about what's going on in financial markets, but they don't know how to handle the real dangers. This book gives them some ideas."

Among the research findings that shocked him most was that the Fed is a privately owned and run bank.

"I just never imagined a central bank could be a private body."

Some, meanwhile, are standing on the sidelines cheering the currency wars – seeing them as a way of reducing the power and influence of the "imperialistic" U.S.

Rohini Hensman, who describes himself as "independent scholar, writer and activist based in India and Sri Lanka," says it's about time the U.S. got its comeuppance.

"As the bombs started falling on Iraq in 2003, I wrote and circulated an appeal entitled 'Boycott the Dollar to Stop the War!,' arguing that although the military strength of the U.S. was enormous, its economy was in a mess; with a massive gross national debt, the only reason it could finance its foreign wars and occupations was because of the inflow of over a billion dollars a day from countries accumulating foreign exchange reserves in dollars because it was the world's sole reserve currency. The denomination of the oil trade in dollars made it additionally desirable. With the advent of the euro, however, there was the possibility of an alternative world currency; therefore individuals, institutions and countries opposed to the war on Iraq should refuse to accumulate dollars or use them outside the U.S., because these were activities that helped to finance U.S.-Israeli aggression against Palestinians, Iraqis and Afghanis. After the World Social Forum meeting in 2004, the Boycott Bush Campaign adopted the dollar boycott as part of its strategy."

In early trading today, the dollar advanced slightly, prompting gold prices back from 28-year highs set yesterday. The dollar's value against a basket of six major currencies rose slightly to 77.950 from a lifetime low of 77.657 a day earlier. The dollar traded at $1.4223 per euro, stronger than a record low on Monday of $1.4283.

WND has reported the Federal Reserve is in a dilemma.

The stock market has demanded rate cuts, wanting to return to the free credit policies of the Federal Reserve that fueled the liquidity bubble that has boosted home prices and pumped the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 9/11.

Yet, the Fed giving in to stock market demands and lowering rates threatens an international dollar sell-off that could lead to a dollar collapse.

Former Fed Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan also sparked controversy by suggesting in his recently published book, "The Age of Turbulence," the euro is rivaling the dollar as the international foreign exchange reserve currency of choice.

The Wall Street Journal recently quoted a rule of thumb advanced by Harvard University economist Kenneth Rogoff, a former chief economist for the International Monetary Fund. According to Rogoff’s "back-of-the-envelope" calculation, a 20 percent drop in the dollar's exchange value reduces Americans' income by 3 percent, adjusted by inflation.

Another example of TxDOT-induced congestion…this one designed to push folks to use toll road

Link to article here.


Commuters are fried over new stoplights on Texas 71
Signals installed after tollway opened causing new backups east of the airport
By Ben Wear
AMERICAN STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, September 17, 2007

Sometimes, as the old saw has it, you have to break some eggs to make an omelet.

Of course, this sort of transaction works out best for the one holding the knife and fork. From the egg's point of view, it's pretty much a lose-lose.

The "eggs" in this case are people commuting into Austin on Texas 71 from eastern Travis County and Bastrop County. The omelet is Texas 130, the new tollway that has been opening piece by piece over the past few months as construction moves southward. The Texas Department of Transportation completed the section from U.S. 290 to Texas 71 on Sept. 6.

That's also when new traffic lights on Texas 71 at Texas 130 were turned on. htBefore then, there was no light on Texas 71 between Ross Road east of Onion Creek and FM 973 near the airport, a stretch of about a mile and a half.

The new luminous obstruction, according to some of the e-mails and calls I've been getting, initially added at least 15 minutes to some people's morning commute. One Bastrop resident says her commute ballooned from 30 minutes to 80 minutes or more. One person wrote, perhaps engaging in hyperbole, that the backup extended as far as 10 miles.


The stoplights weren't causing a backup in the evening rush.

Late last week, after some scrambling by the Transportation Department to reroute some quarry trucks and to restripe part of Texas 71, the backup caused by the new lights had moderated. People were losing just a few minutes.

Two questions arise: What's causing the problem? And why the heck do there need to be stoplights there anyway? Wait, there's a third question: What the blankety-blank is the Transportation Department going to do about it in the long run?

The Transportation Department's Austin district blames "starvation," a traffic phenomenon the agency says is happening in this case because of the light farther west at FM 973. The City of Austin controls the timing on that light. Sometimes people get a green going west at Texas 130 and simply have to sit there, because traffic is stacked all the way from FM 973 to Texas 130.

I was out there Thursday morning, and — sure enough, a little after 8 a.m. — that is exactly what happened. At that point, westbound traffic on Texas 71 backed up within minutes to Ross Road, and it took people several minutes to reach Texas 130. Then they had to crawl to FM 973.

But Bastrop commuters tell me that before the Texas 130 light came on, the FM 973 backup at its worst extended nowhere near Ross Road. The new situation has some of them bailing out early and taking back routes to avoid the situation on 71.

The lights at Texas 130 are variable in their timing and switch based on the presence of traffic. Given that traffic is substantially heavier on Texas 71 than on the tollway — Texas 71 had 30,000 cars a day in this stretch two years ago, while the tollway in this interval has yawning gaps between cars — you might think that Texas 71 drivers would be getting the bulk of the green time. Not so.

Thursday morning, the typical interval was about a minute of green for 71, then 40 seconds to 50 seconds of green for Texas 130.

The tollway was getting roughly equal time.

As for why there has to be a light, well, picture yourself on the tollway at 7:30 a.m.

You've just paid about $4 to drive down from Georgetown — right now the road is free south of U.S. 290, but that won't be the case by January — and you want to turn left at Texas 71 and go to Houston. You get to Texas 71, and (in this alternate universe) there's only a stop sign there. To your left is a solid line of commuters headed into Austin. You're stuck, probably for a very long time. Maybe next trip, you take another route and don't pay that $4.

You get the picture.

What is the Transportation Department going to do? Well, in the short run, workers on Wednesday night restriped Texas 71 between FM 973 and the tollway to have three lanes in each direction. That extra capacity seemed to mitigate the "starvation" to some degree. And the agency is working on the signal timing of its lights and the city's light at FM 973.

But in the long run, everyone involved knows, there need to be express lanes for Texas 71 as it passes under the tollway. Right now, there are only the frontage roads with a big space in between. So, is the state about to build those express lanes?

No. There was no money allocated in the $3.6 billion Central Texas Turnpike Project's budget to do that or to build a similar seamless connection where Texas 130 crosses U.S. 290 about 11 miles to the north. Commuters up there from Manor and Elgin have to stop at lights as well.

What is likely to happen, based on what local transportation officials have been saying, is that Texas 71 and U.S. 290 will be turned into freeways all the way from U.S. 183 back in Austin to just beyond Texas 130. Wait, did I say freeways? Actually, the current thinking is that they will become tollways for those stretches, with free frontage roads alongside.

That would be those same frontage roads people are driving on now. The ones with the traffic lights.

So, until last week, you could pass by Texas 130 without stopping. Now there's a light. In a few years, there will probably be a way to breeze through on Texas 71 without having to stop at those lights. If you pay.

Local transportation officials have said repeatedly since the whole toll road rhubarb sprouted here in 2003 that people would always have the same free access they had before any toll road came along. To fulfill that promise, they've already had to make expensive midcourse corrections on the Loop 1 and Texas 45 North tollways.

One of those cases was similar to this Texas 71 situation, the spot where the Texas 45 North tollway crosses under Parmer Lane.

The state scrambled, redid plans and spent more than $20 million building a special free lane on each side under Parmer so that drivers, who didn't have to stop at Parmer when all that was there was plain old RM 620, could bypass the Parmer traffic light. Of course, they had two lanes each way before and one lane now, but one lane is better than nothing.

These tollway extensions on Texas 71 and U.S. 290 won't happen for at least a couple of years, probably more in the case of Texas 71.

The folks on Texas 71 may have to stew a good while longer. Or maybe that should be "fry." As in, fried eggs.

TxDOT claims its out of money for new lanes/roads - how ’bout they stop using their $ for ads!


Link to article in DMN here and Express-News here. Earth to TxDOT...how about you stop spending what money you do have on advertising and lobbying? Of course, Dallas government officials see the new toll tax windfall soon to be collected by the NTTA on the 675 miles of new toll lanes planned in DFW as "easing the financial burden" TxDOT faces. Well, what about relief for the taxpayers' burden of having to pay new exorbitant toll taxes just to drive to work?

One of the best quotes from these articles:

Transportation Commissioner Ted Houghton said the agency needs to slim down, maybe enact a hiring freeze and use fewer outside consultants.
"As we ask the citizens of this state to buck up and be prepared, I think we internally need to look at our own house," he said.

TxDOT running out of cash for new roads
But NTTA payments expected to ease North Texas' financial burden
Thursday, September 27, 2007
By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN – Texas will soon run out of money to pay for new roads or bridges, state transportation officials said Thursday.

Within three years, nearly all of the state's construction budget will be spent on maintenance and to pay debt incurred in building existing roads, top officials of the Texas Department of Transportation said.

"The people of Texas need to understand that within a very short period of time, there will be no money for mobility projects," said Texas Transportation Commission member Ned Holmes of Houston.

The impact will be less severe in North Texas, where local officials are counting on more than $3 billion in upfront payments from the North Texas Tollway Authority as part of its deal to build the State Highway 121 toll road.

But even some of that money now will probably have to cover projects that had been envisioned as state-financed projects. Throughout Texas, funds for new roads will begin drying up almost immediately, officials said.

Meanwhile, spending on maintenance – especially in Dallas, where the roads are in the state's worst shape – will be increased. State projects already under contract will not be affected.


The inability to build new roads, or to widen existing ones, comes even as experts are warning that Texas' soaring population and booming economy have made traffic in its leading cities among the worst in the U.S. A national study released last week warned that traffic jams in Dallas grew faster over the past 25 years than in any other city in the country.

"People and businesses are moving here because we're a low-tax, low-regulation and low-welfare state – and that is not going to change," commission chairman Ric Williamson said. "They are going to need roads and highways to be able to get around."

Trouble is, Texas just can't afford to build them anymore, he said.

During the next 60 days, local officials will be asked to scale back requests for state funds, said Amadeo Saenz, who was named TxDOT's new executive director late Thursday.

"This will cause delays, and some projects will be canceled," Mr. Saenz said.

Scarce funds, high costs
Mr. Williamson says many factors are to blame for his department's inability to keep up with the demand for new roads.

Federal funds are increasingly scarce, and highway construction costs have soared 62 percent in the past five years, he said. Meanwhile, the state's aging roads are increasingly in need of repair.

"We don't want to see a Minnesota bridge collapse in Texas. In order to avoid that, we are going to have to take care of the assets we have," Mr. Williamson said.

But commissioners saved their harshest criticism for decisions by the Texas Legislature.

They said lawmakers spend the state gas-tax revenues on too many other needs, including more than $1 billion for the state police alone.

But commissioners said the Legislature's moratorium last session on private-investments in toll projects has hurt the most.

The decision cost the state billions of dollars in annual construction funds, said Mr. Williamson, who like the other commissioners was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry.

Mr. Williamson said Mr. Perry asked the commission to find a way to pay for the state's growing transportation needs. Convincing private companies to pay money up front to operate toll concessions was that solution, he said.

Terms too steep
Lawmakers need no lecture on the severity of the state's transportation needs, suggested Steven Polunsky, a top aide to Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, chairman of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee.

"We agree absolutely that there is a financial crisis," Mr. Polunksy said. "And Senator Carona will support next session a multi-pronged approach to solve it."

He wants to raise the gas tax and stop the diversion of revenues to pay for other needs, Mr. Polunsky said.

But the private investment deals favored by the commission were too lopsided, he said, noting that some proposed leases would have kept the toll roads in private control for 75 years or longer.

"The price that came with those private financing deals was too steep," Mr. Polunsky said. "Lawmakers found the terms unacceptable, both politically and from a business standpoint."

Mr. Williamson said efforts to raise the gas tax are misplaced. The tax is inefficient because lawmakers divert too much of it to other needs, and he said it is too regressive, since poor people pay the same rate as rich ones.

He did say he would probably support efforts to index the rate to inflation, if only because inflation is making it increasingly difficult for the department to simply maintain the roads it already has.

The legislative moratorium nearly killed Dallas' transportation agenda, said Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments.

"We took a lot of criticism back in the spring for working to make sure our projects were not going to be affected by the legislature's moratorium," Mr. Morris said. "But if we hadn't succeeded in that, we would be dead in the water, just like the rest of Texas is going to be."

NTTA is not a private company, but it modeled its offer to pay $3.3 billion in return for operating the toll concessions on SH121 on the private companies' proposals. Without the latter, NTTA's deal would never have been so aggressive, Mr. Morris said.

When state funds begin drying up over the next couple of years, it will be the NTTA's money, he said, that keeps construction projects moving forward in the Dallas area.

Even that money, however, will run out over several years – and by then, if the state or federal governments haven't found new ways to pay for projects, North Texas will suffer like the rest of the state, Mr. Morris said.

Relief in sight
Some short-term relief could come as soon as next month, when Texas voters have a chance to approve a constitutional amendment that would authorize TxDOT to borrow up to $5 billion in one-time construction money.

That issue is on the Nov. 6 ballot. But even if it passes, the money would only be a one-time infusion, warned James Bass, the department's chief financial officer. TxDOT has estimated the state has an $86 billion gap between construction needs and available funding. The $5 billion would help – but would also increase the state's annual debt payments for decades to come.

Instead, Mr. Morris said, the state needs real solutions – and that means new revenue. "We're just shuffling the deck chairs around on the Titanic," he said.

"This is NOT over"...fight to stop ad campaign continues

Link to AP article here.

Also, another article below...

Judge denies activist's request to stop toll road campaign
The Associated Press as it appeared in the Star-Telegram
September 25, 2007

AUSTIN -- A judge has refused a toll road opponent's request to block the Texas Department of Transportation from spending money on a campaign that promotes toll roads and the Trans-Texas Corridor.

Terri Hall of the San Antonio Toll Party and Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom argued the "Keep Texas Moving" campaign violates a prohibition on state officials using their authority for political purposes.

On Monday, State District Judge Orlinda Naranjo denied Hall's request for a temporary restraining order. The judge noted another law cited by state lawyers that allows the department to promote the development and use of toll projects.

"It seems that the Legislature has weighed in and given the department the authority to promote toll roads," Naranjo said.

Another hearing is expected soon on the state's motion to dismiss the case. The state contends that it's legal for the transportation department to promote toll roads and that the agency is responding to calls for public education about its projects.

Hall's lawsuit also seeks to block transportation officials from lobbying Congress to allow more tolling.

"This is just round one," Hall said Monday. "This issue is definitely not over."

Her attorney, Charles Riley, said the facts will show that the agency is using highway funds for a political purpose, and not just for providing information about toll roads.

Gov. Rick Perry and the transportation department have championed toll roads and the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor, a tolled network of superhighways, as solutions to dire transportation needs that have outpaced gas tax revenues.

A department spokesman said he had no comment on Monday's ruling and referred to earlier statements defending the department's right to promote toll roads.

______________________________


Link to article here.

Activist loses bid to halt toll-road ads
Peggy Fikac
Express-News, Austin bureau
09/25/2007

AUSTIN — A San Antonio activist lost a court round Monday in her effort to stop state transportation officials from spending public funds to promote toll roads and the Trans-Texas Corridor, but the fight's not over.

State District Judge Orlinda Naranjo refused to grant a temporary restraining order to immediately stop the spending as sought by Terri Hall of the San Antonio Toll Party and Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom.

Another hearing is expected as early as next week on a state motion to dismiss the case, which targets the multimillion-dollar Keep Texas Moving campaign and any attempt by transportation officials to convince Congress to allow more tolling.

"This is just Round One. This issue is definitely not over," said Hall, contending that transportation officials in promoting the initiatives are violating a ban on using their authority for political purposes and on lobbying.

Naranjo noted that another law cited by the state specifically allows the Texas Department of Transportation to promote the use of toll projects.

___________________________________

Goode: Bush wants North American Union to increase profits for corporations

Link to article here.

Rep. Virgil Goode says below: "We are giving away the country so a few very rich people can get richer." Goode stressed that the Bush administration supports both a NAU regional government and a NAFTA Superhighway system.

Congress debate begins on North America Union
Resolution calls for end of NAFTA superhighway, abandonment of integration with Canada, Mexico
By Jerome R. Corsi
WorldNetDaily.com
September 25, 2007


Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va. (Photo: University of Virginia) A House resolution urging President Bush "not to go forward with the North American Union or the NAFTA Superhighway system" is – according to its sponsor Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., in an exclusive WND interview – "also a message to both the executive branch and the legislative branch."
As WND previously reported, on Jan. 22 Goode introduced H.C.R. 40, titled "Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States should not engage in the construction of a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Superhighway System or enter into a North American Union with Mexico and Canada."

The bill has been referred to the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

WND asked Goode if the president was risking electoral success for the Republican Party in 2008 with his insistence on pushing for North American integration via the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP.

"Yes," Goode answered. "You won't hear the leadership in the Republic Party admit it, but there are many in the House and Senate who know that illegal immigration has to be stopped and legal immigration has to be reduced. We are giving away the country so a few very rich people can get richer."


How did he react when President Bush referred to those who suggest the SPP could turn into the North American Union as "conspiracy theorists"?

"The president is really engaging in a play on words," Goode responded. "The secretary of transportation came before our subcommittee," he explained, "and I had the opportunity to ask her some questions about the NAFTA Superhighway. Of course, she answered, 'There's no NAFTA Superhighway.' But then Mary Peters proceeded to discuss the road system that would come up from Mexico and go through the United States up into Canada."

Goode is a member of the Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development of the House Committee on Appropriations.

"So, I think that saying we're 'conspiracy theorists' or something like that is really just a play on words with the intent to demonize the opposition," Goode concluded.

Goode stressed that the Bush administration supports both a NAU regional government and a NAFTA Superhighway system: "The Bush administration as well as Mexico and Canada have persons in the government in all three countries who want to a see a North American Union as well as a highway system that would bring goods into the west coast of Mexico and transport them up through Mexico into the United States and then in onto Canada," Goode confirmed.

The Virginia congressman said he believes the motivation behind the movement toward North American integration is the anticipated profits the large multinational corporations in each of the three countries expect to make from global trade, especially moving production to China.

"Some really large businesses that get a lot from China would like a NAFTA Superhighway system because it would reduce costs for them to transport containers from China and, as a result, increase their margins," he argued.

"I am vigorously opposed to the Mexican trucks coming into the country," Goode continued. "The way we have done it and, I think, the way we should do it in the future, is to have the goods come into the United States from Mexico within a 20-mile commercial space and unloaded from Mexican trucks into U.S. trucks. This procedure enhances the safety of the country, the security of the country, and provides much less chance for illegal immigration."

As WND reported, the Department of Transportation has begun a Mexican truck "demonstration project" under which 100 Mexican trucking companies are being allowed to run their long-haul rigs throughout the U.S.

Previously, Mexican trucks have been limited to a 20-mile commercial zone in the United States, with the requirement that goods bound for locations in the U.S. beyond the 20-mile commercial zone be off-loaded to U.S. trucks.

WND reported last month that Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., successfully offered an amendment to the Department of Transportation Fiscal Year 2008 appropriations bill to block DOT from spending any federal funds to implement the truck project.

Dorgan’s amendment passed 75-23, after Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., changed her vote to support Dorgan.

By a voice vote, the House passed an amendment offered by Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., to the DOT appropriations bill comparable to Dorgan's, designed to block the agency from using federal funds to implement the truck project.

DeFazio chairs the House transportation subcommittee that oversees motor carriers.

"With the Trans-Texas Corridor, which I would say is part of the NAFTA Superhighway system, and with this NAFTA plot with the Mexican trucks just coming in and not loading off to U.S. trucks, they will just drive right over the Rio Grande and come on over into Texas," Goode argued. "A lot of these Mexican trucks will be bring containerized cargo from the west coast of Mexico where they will be unloaded in Mexican ports to avoid the fees and costs of unloading at U.S. ports."

"So, when you look at the total package," he continued, "we do have a NAFTA Superhighway system already in place. There are those in all three countries that believe we should have a North American Union and the Security and Prosperity Partnership, in my opinion takes us down that road. And I am vigorously opposed to the loss of our sovereignty."

Why, WND asked, do so many congressmen and senators insist on writing and telling their constituents that they don't know anything about the Security and Prosperity Partnership, or that SPP working groups are really just to increase our competitiveness?

"In the House, a strong majority voted to provide no money in the transportation funding bill," Goode responded. "I commend Congressman Duncan Hunter for submitting an amendment to the Department of Transportation funding bill [which] got over 360 votes that said no funds in the transportation appropriation measure, prohibiting Department of Transportation funds from being used to participate on working groups that promote the Security and Prosperity Partnership."

As WND reported, Hunter's amendment to the FY 2008 Department of Transportation funding bill prohibiting DOT from using federal funds to participate in SPP working groups creating NAFTA Superhighways passed 362 to 63, with strong bipartisan support. The House approved H.R. 3074 by 268-153, with the Hunter amendment included.

"So, I think a majority the House, if you had an up or down vote on the SPP, would vote down on the SPP," Goode concluded. "But some still say, and it's a play on words, that we don't have a Security and Prosperity Partnership that will lead to a North American Union. I don't think they can say anymore that we don't have a Security and Prosperity Partnership arrangement between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, because that was done in Waco, Texas, on March 23, 2005, and the recent meeting at Montebello was to talk about it further."

WND asked Goode to comment on the North American Competitiveness Council, or NACC, a group of multinational corporations selected by the Chambers of Commerce in Mexico, Canada and the U.S. as the central adviser of SPP working groups.

At the SPP summit in Montebello, Quebec, the NACC met behind closed doors with the three leaders, cabinet secretaries who were present, and top SPP working group bureaucrats, while various public advocacy groups, environmental groups, labor unions – and the press – were excluded.

Should SPP working group meetings be open to the public?

"I wish they were," Goode responded. "If it is as the Bush administration says, 'We're not planning any North American Union,' then why wouldn’t those meetings be open, why wouldn’t you let the media in?" Goode asked.

"But some of the very big corporations want the goods from China to come in here unchecked," he continued. "It costs money for U.S. trucks to transport Chinese goods from West Coast ports like Los Angeles or Long Beach. But if you can have a Mexican truck and Mexican truck driver, that's going to be cheaper. And it's all about the margins. The margins relate directly to how much money the multi-national corporations are going to make."

Has the Senate debate on the Dorgan amendment brought the issues of the NAU and NAFTA Superhighways more to the attention of the Senate?

"I think so," Goode said. "That debate had a very positive effect. You had grassroots support calling the Senate on the Dorgan amendment.

"The Bush administration engages in the same play of words with all these issues," Goode added. "Take a look at the Kennedy-McCain comprehensive immigration reform, which the Bush administration has now tried to jam through the Senate not once, but twice.

"The Bush administration claims it's not [amnesty] when you let someone stay in the country and give them a path to citizenship," Goode pointed out. "Well, that's their definition, not my definition, and not the definition of the majority of the public. The majority of the public called in and buried the amnesty bill because of public pressure. Public pressure also got de-funded the pilot program on Mexican trucks in this country."

So should the U.S. pull out of the SPP?

"Yes," Goode answered, "but the best way to end SPP would be to have a chief executive that wouldn't do anything with it."

What does Goode think of the state legislatures that are passing anti-NAU, anti-NAFTA Superhighway and anti-SPP resolutions?

"If enough state legislatures pass resolutions like that, it surely should have an impact on the House and the Senate," Goode said.

"President Bush's position is that we need to carry out NAFTA and we need to have this free flow of goods with Mexico and Canada," Goode explained. "Well, Bush's approach involves a derogation of our sovereignty and it also undermines the security and the safety of the country.

"It will be much easier for a truck to get a container on the west coast of Mexico and haul in a biological or radiological or nuclear weapon than it would be if you are going to have to unload the trucks on the Texas-Mexico border and put the goods and material in a U.S. truck," he continued.

"The problem is that the NAU, NAFTA Superhighways and SPP all go back to money," Goode stressed. "The multinational companies want their goods from Mexico and China because they want the cheap labor."

What about the U.S.'s large and growing trade imbalance with China?

"I don't want to have to be an 'I told you so' person," Goode answered, "but I was a vigorous opponent of PNTR ("permanent normal trade relations") and before that of 'most favored nation' trade status with China. We need tariffs and quotas with China. Personally, if I know food is coming in from China, I won't buy it. The American people with the adoption of COOL, country of origin labeling, with the food clearly labeled, I think you will see the American public will shy away from Chinese products."

In 2000, Congress voted to extend to China PNTR. "Most favored nation" or MFN trade status, was given to China first in 1980 by the Carter administration. COOL rules are administered by the Department of Agriculture.

Goode concluded the interview by thanking WND for covering the SPP, NAU and NAFTA Superhighway issues: "I want to thank you for putting these issues out where people can read it," Goode said. "You have enlightened hundreds of thousands if not millions of American citizens who otherwise would have been greatly in the dark on the SPP."

Sparks fly at MPO as McNeil strips agenda item repudiating TxDOT's ad campaign

Link to YouTube video of the knock em out drag em out between David Leibowitz, Carlos Uresti, Tommy Adkisson and pro-toll, pro-TxDOT McNeil. Uresti finishes her off in this YouTube edition.

For those who believed the City Councilmembers when they claimed who was the next Chair of the MPO didn't have anything to do with tolls, today's MPO meeting blows a gaping hole through that notion. MPO Chair and City Councilwoman Sheila McNeil stripped an item from today's agenda AFTER the 72 hour open meetings minimum requirement! Representative David Leibowitz requested a vote to repudiate TxDOT's ad campaign and lobbying of Congress, and she wrote him a letter denying a vote but said she'd place it on the agenda and the Board oculd vote on whether or not to vote on it at the October meeting. Then she pulled a fast one at the last minute and pulled the item altogether!

State Senator Carlos Uresti came to Leibowitz' defense and caught McNeil in her contradictions as to the reason she stripped the item. Commissioner Tommy Adkisson also defended Leibowitz' right to place an item on the agenda. McNeil claimed unilateral authority to set the meeting agenda. She did her usual, "we can get together to talk about it" for anyone who disagrees with her or TxDOT in an attempt to silence all dissension.

Mexican official urges North American Union be formed quickly

Link to article here.

Mexican official urges North American Union
Tells Denver trade conference EU is 'model we need to follow quickly'
By Michael Howe
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
September 21, 2007



Mayor Evaristo Lenin Perez of Ciudad Acuna, Mexico
At a Denver conference on intercontinental trade corridors, a Mexican mayor called for a swift move toward a European Union-style merger of the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Referring to Europe, Evaristo Lenin Perez of Ciudad Acuna – a sister city of Del Rio, Texas – told the Great Plains International Conference, "It's a model we need to follow quickly."

Perez later told WND, "If only people know the benefits of opening the borders and working together, improving the quality of life for all, then no one would be opposed to the idea of a North American Union."

A spokesman for organizers of the conference – which began Wednesday and concludes today – rejected the Mexican mayor's view.

"This is not what the conference is about, it is not about a North American Union," said Joe Kiely, vice president of the Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor Coalition. "It is about developing infrastructure and economic opportunities in the Great Plains. I am equally surprised the other items were brought up here."

Ports-to-Plains describes itself as "a planned, multimodal transportation corridor including a multi-lane divided highway that will facilitate the efficient transportation of goods and services from Mexico, through West Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Oklahoma, and ultimately on into Canada and the Pacific Northwest."


 

The conference, held at the Adams Mark Hotel, is promoted as an opportunity to "highlight the efforts of communities and citizens working together to bring the benefits of investment in transportation infrastructure and trade home to the Great Plains region."

Asked why he chose the conference to promote the idea of a North American Union, Perez told WND, "It's as good as any place and the right people are here."

"This is not a new idea," he said. "In fact when there are border meetings between border governors or border legislatures this is a topic that continually comes up."

Perez also affirmed the Ports to Plains Corridor is basically a NAFTA Superhighway and needs to be developed as such.

"We need to begin by building the infrastructure in the three countries, investing in Mexico, and then we can sell the main idea that Mexicans should stay in Mexico. We just need to create an equal level for all," Perez said.

Del Rio, Texas, Mayor Efrain Valdes told conferees he came to build relationships he hopes will last for decades to come.

"We are all North Americans," he said. "Three countries, but we are all North Americans."

Michael Reeves, president of Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor Coalition, kicked off the conference with brief remarks.

Eduardo Arnal, consulate general of Mexico in Denver, later provided numerous statistics documenting the strong economic relationship between Mexico and the U.S.

"Because of NAFTA, we are partners in the fight against terror and need to help ensure each other's safety," Arnal said.

Arnal later discussed with WND the relationship between Mexico and the U.S. and the issue of illegal immigration.

"The best and only way to stop illegal immigration is for the United States to invest in Mexico," he said. "A fence will not work. It's a simple equation of supply and demand – Mexicans go to the U.S. for work because the demand for their labor and wages is there."

Arnal said although Mexico must share responsibility for the immigration issue, it is the U.S. that really needs to step up and begin investing more in Mexico to help bring the country to a level playing field.

The Canadian perspective was delivered by Phillippe Taillon, vice consul and trade commissioner of the Canadian Consulate in Denver. Like his Mexican counterpart, Taillon presented statistics on the relationship between the three countries and told the crowd "NAFTA has been hugely profitable for all three countries."

He also expressed an interest in continuing to integrate rail, truck and air transportation networks as Canada looks to open new markets from Asia.

Sad days for highway department

Link to article here. I don't feel even a tad sorry for the leadership of TxDOT! They've brought this upon themselves and they need to live with the consequences. People have been "kissing their rings" for far too long....the jig is up and the PEOPLE of this great State will work tirelessly to take our government back from the highway lobbyists who "own" our representatives and TxDOT. TxDOT employees who approved this ad campaign should be personally liable to return every DIME of the taxpayers' money they've spent illegally, but there is no way to do that in the courts. Therefore, an injunction is our only shot at stopping the leak....

Sad days for highwaymen
By Rick Casey
Houston Chronicle
Sept. 22, 2007
If you work at it, I think you can bring yourself to feel a little sorry for the good folks at the mighty Texas Department of Transportation.

Tomorrow they're going to have to go before a judge to defend themselves against an anti-toll road activist from San Antonio who wants to keep them from spending $7 million to $9 million on an advertising and public relations campaign to convince Texans how wonderful their ambitious, privatized toll-road plans are.

But as bad as the bother is of having to respond to a mere citizen-activist, consider this:

I remember a day when TxDOT's more honestly named predecessor, the Texas Highway Commission, couldn't imagine having to spend a postage stamp, much less $9 million, to defend itself to the citizenry.

Kissing their rings

At a time when the state was more rural and gas was cheap, both Austin staff and district engineers throughout the state were potentates of the political system, the real structure not described in civics books.
Legislators funded them generously through gas taxes and county commissioners and mayors kissed their rings. The reason is that every elected official wanted new and improved roads in his district.

How far the mighty have fallen. TxDOT is facing popular uprisings featuring everything but pitchforks in Austin and San Antonio, where Houston-style congestion is relatively new and toll roads are novel.

That uppity Legislature

But worse, rather than genuflect to the Counts of Concrete, the Legislature has grown more than disrespectful. It has become rebellious.
Last June, Coby Chase, director of TxDOT's Government and Business Enterprise Division (an interesting title in itself), briefed commissioners on the just-completed legislative session.

Total funding, he said, increased only 2 percent — not near enough to cover inflation since the last biennium, while the state's population and pent-up transportation needs burgeoned.

Sensitive to voter anger over soaring gasoline prices, the Legislature turned down proposals to raise the 20-cent-per-gallon tax or to index it to the price of gas. Yet high prices at the pump are hiking sales of more efficient cars, which can be expected to put a brake on state revenues.

The governor and TxDOT have responded with schemes to auction the rights to build toll roads to the highest private-sector bidders, who will, of course, recover their money by charging drivers what the market will bear.

But the uppity Legislature voted, overwhelmingly in both houses, to put a moratorium on new toll road projects, with a few exceptions.

Well! The indignity of it all!

Gov. Rick Perry, who has provided the major push behind the privately operated toll roads, vetoed the bill.

Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, had authored the Senate version of the House bill that was vetoed. Rather than engage in a veto override fight, he said, he and others negotiated with the governor's office and TxDOT using his bill as a vehicle.

From Williams' standpoint, the best thing about the bill is that it lets the Harris County Toll Road Authority proceed with six proposed projects. Specific projects in the Metroplex and a few other places are also exempted.

The compromise with the governor is that instead of a total moratorium, a process is set up that allows local authorities the first right to build toll projects before they are offered to the private sector.

"It was the governor's idea, not mine," said Williams.

But even that process is what Chase described to TxDOT commissioners as a "an artificial competition."

"Previously, our strategy was to allow the market to determine value of a project through a competitive process," Chase said.

In other words, private corporations would bid on how much they would pay the state to build and operate proposed toll roads, setting their own tolls to recoup their investments.

It was a competition few public officials would want to join. In order to beat the private companies, the public officials would have to charge toll rates that would subject them to anger from taxpayers who feel they shouldn't be gouged by their government.

So the law Williams carries neuters the governor's intent. The first is that it requires that TxDOT and the local authority agree on an independent consultant to be hired to determine the "market value" of any proposed project.

But among other things, the two sides must agree in advance of ordering the study what the toll rates will be now and over a period of time.

The Harris County Toll Road Authority, for example, could insist on a rate lower than what the traffic will bear, and thereby lower the "market value," or the amount for which the right to operate the road can be sold.

If both sides agree, the study is done and the local authority pays that amount into a fund to be used for other local projects. If it chooses not to, TxDOT can go out for private bids, using the agreed toll structure.

If both sides can't agree in advance, the project dies.

In other words, whereas the state highway barons always had veto power, now the locals also do.

Can it work? Here's a measure of the confidence level, which reflects the last-minute pressure under which the scheme was concocted: That section of the law expires in four years.

TURF Founder sues to stop TxDOT's ad campaign

Link to article here. Once again, TxDOT just doesn't get it. Until a court order gets their attention, TxDOT is paid to overlook the LAW while it promotes the MOST EXPENSIVE TAX INCREASE IN TEXAS HISTORY using taxpayers' money to do it! They think if they keep talking AT us, we'll eventually embrace unaccountable toll taxes. We've already gotten the message and we REJECT it! Get it through your thick heads! WE DO NOT WANT TOLL ROADS!

Toll road foe sues over TxDOT ad campaign
Peggy Fikac
Express-News, Austin Bureau
09/20/2007

AUSTIN — An activist outraged over state transportation officials' multimillion-dollar campaign to promote toll roads and the Trans-Texas Corridor is taking her fight to court.Terri Hall of the San Antonio Toll Party and Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom wants a state court order to halt spending on the "Keep Texas Moving" campaign because, she contends, it violates a state prohibition on state officers or employees using their authority for political purposes.

"Unlike purely educational public relations efforts such as the 'Don't Mess with Texas' campaign, the KTM campaign is a one-sided attempt to advocate one political point of view on a highly controversial matter that is far from politically decided," Hall said in her court petition.

She also wants to block lobbying attempts by the transportation officials to persuade Congress to allow more tolling, such as a proposal on tolling interstates.


The state is asking that Hall's claim be denied and her petition dismissed, saying the Texas Department of Transportation is allowed by law to promote toll projects and that its campaign is responsive to a call from the public and elected officials for more information on road initiatives.

"Merely because plaintiff disagrees with the tolling of roads in Texas does not provide her with an avenue for relief," said the filing by the state attorney general on behalf of Steven Simmons, interim executive director of TxDOT, and Coby Chase, director of the agency's government and public affairs division.

TxDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott said, "For quite some time now TxDOT has heard calls from elected leaders and the driving public to explain what we are doing to improve mobility in our state and why we are doing it. The 'Keep Texas Moving' public involvement campaign is an effort to engage Texans on these issues and seek their participation in solving some of our state's most serious problems."

A hearing had been scheduled Thursday, but the state objected to the case being heard by a visiting judge. The hearing was delayed until Monday.

"Selling toll roads like soap is an outrageous use of the taxpayers' money. Whether or not it constitutes highway robbery under the law is a question best left to the judge," said Craig McDonald of Texans for Public Justice, which tracks money in politics.

Toll roads and the ambitious proposed transportation network known as the Trans-Texas Corridor have been touted by Gov. Rick Perry and others as necessary in the face of congestion.

But the initiative has drawn widespread criticism over the potential corridor route and the state partnering with private companies to run toll roads.

The campaign includes a range of advertising and elements, such as training for officials who will appear on radio talk shows. It is estimated to cost $7 million to $9 million in state highway funds.

NAFTA superhighway rail element already underway in Canada

Link to article here.

Port sparks NAFTA super-railway challenge
Another national line plans 'Asian gateway' to North America
By Jerome R. Corsi
September 19, 2007
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

 
Canadian National railway's North America logo With the focused development of the port in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, as an official "Asian Gateway," Canadian National is positioned to compete with Canadian Pacific as the first truly continental NAFTA super-railroad, reaching from Canada to Mexico through the heart of the U.S. On Sept. 12, Canadian National used the opening of its new container terminal at Prince Rupert to declare the railroad the "Midwest Express," a reference to its ambition to move containers of good manufactured in China into the heartland of North America through distribution hubs in Chicago and Memphis.
James Foote, Canadian National's vice president of sales and marketing, boasted Canadian National could move containers from China into the U.S. Midwest more quickly through Prince Rupert than through any other West Coast port, including Los Angeles and Long Beach.

According to the Canadian National website, the now-completed Phase I development of the Canadian National Prince Rupert container terminal has a capacity to handle 500,000 20-foot containers per year, growing to a 2 million container capacity in 2010, when Phase II development of the 150-acre facility is completed.


A video on the Canadian National website bills Prince Rupert as "North America's Northwest Gateway," stressing the 54th parallel location as the closest connection with the Far East and China, "shaving 30 hours shipping time for the shortest, quickest route across the Pacific."


VIDEO: Prince Rupert as "North America's Northwest Gateway


"It's all in the numbers," Canadian National boasts, pointing out Prince Rupert is 5,286 miles from Hong Kong, while Los Angeles is 6,380 miles away. Also, Shanghai is 4,642 miles from Port Rupert but 5,810 miles from Los Angeles."

Protected by the Queen Charlotte Islands, Prince Rupert is a natural deep-water tidal harbor easily capable of handling the new class of 12,500 container-capacity post-Panamax ships now being built for China.


Canadian National railway network
The Canadian National route map can be conceptualized as a giant "T" that stretches across Canada from Prince Rupert and Vancouver in British Columbia to Halifax in Nova Scotia.

The Canadian National then crosses into the U.S. at Winnipeg and at Windsor, to complete the "T" through Detroit, Chicago and Memphis, ending up in the Louisiana Gulf Coast.

As WND reported, the route map of rival Canadian Pacific in the U.S. roughly parallels Interstate 35, while the Canadian National route map follows more the Mississippi River and roughly the proposed NAFTA superhighway route planned for Interstate 69.

A map on the Canadian National website shows containers from China will enter North America at Prince Rupert.

A secondary, southern route is shown on the Canadian National map, with Chinese containers traveling through the Panama Canal and linking up with Canadian National routes in Louisiana, or heading north into the Atlantic to connect with Canadian National in Halifax.

WND reported plans to build a deeper and wider Panama Canal are aimed at opening a route for Chinese post-Panamax container mega-ship from the Pacific to U.S. ports in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.


 
To complete its route map into Mexico, Canadian National has marketing agreements in place with Kansas City Southern, or KCS.

KCS's reach into Mexico qualifies it as a NAFTA railroad, but a combination between KCS and either Canadian National or Canadian Pacific is required before the configuration of a continental NAFTA super-railroad becomes apparent.

WND reported the Canadian Pacific acquisition of DM&E gives Canadian Pacific a connection with KCS at the Knoche Yard in Kansas City.

Thus, both Canadian National and rival Canadian Pacific rely on KCS to compete for the claim to be the first North American continental NAFTA railroad.

A route map on the Canadian National website shows the railroad connecting through KCS Mexican railroads down to the Mexican port Lazaro Cardenas, a port WND frequently has identified as another alternative to Los Angeles and Long Beach for containers from China to enter North America.

While the KCS marketing agreements give Canadian National the reach into Mexico, the Canadian National website emphasizes Prince Rupert as the railroad's primary gateway for containers from China to enter North America.

Through Prince Rupert, Canadian National can transport containers from China along 100 percent Canadian National lines, down into the heartland of the U.S., from Detroit and Chicago south to the Louisiana coast.

Yet, Canadian National would have to partner with KCS to reach into Mexico to transport containers from China north from Lázaro Cárdenas.

As WND previously reported, KCS operating alone can already bring Chinese containers from the Mexican ports of Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas to Kansas City where Kansas City SmartPort is planning to be an "inland port" for switching Chinese containers to destinations east and west on U.S. rail lines.

For a brief period, 1993-1995, Canadian National operated under a CN North America logo, even entering into negotiations to acquire the rival Canadian Pacific.

Giuliani's ties to Cintra getting noticed by ABC News

We put out this information earlier in the year and the mainstream press is beginning to pick-up on Rudy Giuliani's conflicts of interests and deep ties to a controversial public policy gripping the nation, superhighways in the hands of foreign companies to benefit multi-national corporations through a massive influx of imports from China. Giuliani's going to directly profit from the Trans Texas Corridor...this man has no business being the next president!

Giuliani Builds Political Base in Texas
September 21, 2007 - AUSTIN, Texas
from ABC 7 News

Republican Rudy Giuliani - thrice-married, liberal on social issues and a consummate New Yorker - seems an unlikely White House contender to be embraced by a Texas' GOP establishment rooted in the energy industry and dominated by religious conservatives. But the former New York mayor has built a formidable political base in Texas with the help of well-connected Republican money men. He owes his advantage in part to his role as a name partner with a powerhouse, Houston-based law firm known for its impressive roster of energy-giant clients, Bracewell & Giuliani.

His partnership in the law firm has also brought Giuliani unwelcome criticism in connection with some of the firm's more controversial clients, including a Spanish contractor involved in planning part of a Texas superhighway toll road known as the Trans-Texas Corridor.

Texas farmers and other landowners are worried their property rights will be trampled to make way for the highway. Conspiracy theorists see Giuliani, because of his highway connections, as allied with a cabal of international monied interests plotting to supplant the United States with a North American Union that includes Mexico and Canada.

Giuliani joined the law firm - then called Bracewell & Patterson - in March 2005. More than 400 lawyers work for the firm, which has offices in New York, Washington, Connecticut, Dubai, Kazakhstan and London.


Giuliani reported in a federal financial disclosure form in May that he received $1.2 million in income from Bracewell & Giuliani during 2006 and the first five months of 2007. He was also entitled to a 7.5 percent share of revenue from the firm's New York office.

The firm's managing partner, Patrick Oxford of Houston, is the national chairman of Giuliani's presidential campaign. A former University of Texas System regent appointed by then-Gov. George W. Bush, Oxford has strong ties to many of Texas' top political leaders. He raised $100,000 for Bush in his 2000 presidential run, served as co-chairman of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's re-election campaign last year and is treasurer for Sen. John Cornyn's current re-election campaign.

The law firm's employees in several Texas cities have also donated to Giuliani's campaign, federal election reports show.

"The relationship with Bracewell has given Giuliani a financial foothold in the state," said Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice, which tracks money in politics.

While Giuliani isn't "totally in sync with the base on social issues," Texans liked his take-charge approach during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and his mayoral record on crime-fighting and budget control, said Austin-based GOP consultant Reggie Bashur, who is not working with any presidential candidates.

"The grassroots in Texas is ... strongly conservative. ... very much right-to-life, very fiscally conservative, strong on national defense, very strong on the war on terror, not overly sympathetic to the gay rights movement," Bashur said.

Because Texas' primary comes late in the lineup of nomination contests, the state's role in the nomination is primarily that of money generator. Giuliani's campaign finance chairman is Roy Bailey, a former finance chairman of the Texas Republican Party. Dallas billionaire T. Boone Pickens and Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks are major fundraisers.

Giuliani had raised $3.69 million in Texas as of July 30, the most of any presidential candidate. Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton was second with $2 million. Among Giuliani's Republican rivals, Sen. John McCain has raised $1.79 million from Texas donors and Mitt Romney has raised $1.76 million.

"I think there are many issues, principally on the issue of leadership and overall electability, that are causing many voters in Texas to support the mayor," said Giuliani spokesman Elliott Bundy.

Giuliani has also developed a bond with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whom he helped win re-election last year. That groundwork could make Perry a high-profile ally in Texas, although the governor hasn't yet endorsed a presidential candidate.

Bracewell & Giuliani's political action committee gave $10,000 to Perry a year ago, just a few weeks before his re-election. Perry and Giuliani have talked in person and by telephone several times and have a good relationship, Black said.

Bracewell & Giuliani represents a business consortium involved in the Trans-Texas Corridor, a costly, high-profile toll road pushed by Perry and opposed by farmers and ranchers.

The first phase of Perry's proposed $184 billion toll road, envisioned as part of a superhighway stretching from Oklahoma to the Mexico border, was planned by the Cintra Zachry consortium, composed of Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte SA of Spain, one of the world's largest developers of toll roads, and Zachry Construction Co. of San Antonio.

Landowners say they worry that fields and farmhouses in Texas families for generations would be bulldozed for the highway. The state acknowledges some private land will be taken, but Perry said new roads are needed to handle Texas' growing population and trade.

The consortium sued Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott last year to keep parts of its development agreement with the state secret, saying the information was proprietary. The Texas Department of Transportation took the unusual step of siding with the consortium in the lawsuit against Abbott, whose office had ruled the agreement should be made public.

The transportation department and the consortium dropped the lawsuit last October and agreed to release the contents of the contract.

But the lawsuit further fueled concerns about foreign ownership of a major Texas highway, and the project continues to be criticized by conservative groups like the Eagle Forum and the John Birch Society, who see it as part of an international conspiracy to create a North American Union. The conspiracy theory has also provided fodder for cable television commentators like CNN's Lou Dobbs.

Earlier this year, Giuliani sold his investment firm, Giuliani Capital, for an undisclosed sum to the Macquarie Group, which is part of Macquarie Bank of Australia.. Cintra and Macquarie's infrastructure group formed a consortium that operates a major toll road in Indiana.

Scott Segal, a Washington-based Bracewell & Giuliani partner in charge of its government relations division, said Giuliani was not involved in the Texas toll road legal work and that the law firm doesn't lobby on behalf of Cintra Zachry.

"Mayor Giuliani has had no association or has done no work for the Cintra Zachry venture," Segal said.

Black, Perry's spokesman, said he doubts Perry even knows that Giuliani's firm has represented the transportation companies in connection with the project.

"The governor does not concern himself with who Rudy Giuliani's law firm may or may not represent," Black said.

© 2007 WJLA-TV
© 2007 The Associated Press

Reporter banned from secret meeting on selling U.S. assets, TX Senator John Carona to speak

Link to article here. Senator John Carona is a listed speaker for this conference on privatization. After encouraging Senator Robert Nichols to file a private toll moratorium, Carona then tried to kill the bill in his committee (privately telling a pro-toll industry magnate that the moratorium "was bad public policy") and then later brokered a back room deal, SB 792, with pro-toll, pro-privatization Governor Rick Perry. Then in yet another flip-flop, Carona tried to act outraged that TxDOT was trying to circumvent the moratorium by attempting to continue to funnel money to private entities in his hearing August 7. So in public, it's outrage over privatization, in private, it's give privatization a green light. So who knows what Carona will say at this conference since they're banning a reporter from telling the public what our elected officials are saying about the most controversial road financing scheme in Texas history.

Reporter banned from secret meeting on selling U.S. assets
'We don't feel WND is appropriate for a business conference'
September 19, 2007
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
EuroMoney PLC, the UK-based company that arranges dozens of financial conferences around the world each year, has refused to allow WND staff reporter Jerome Corsi to attend next week's "North American PPP (Public-Private Partnership) & Infrastructure Finance Conference" in New York, even though WND offered to pay the $1,999 conference fee required to attend.

"When government officials want to go behind closed doors with investment bankers and lawyers to discuss selling our public infrastructure to foreign investment leaders, investigative reporters need to be there to tell the public what is really going on,” Corsi said.

"Why is it that all these PPP and SPP (Security and Prosperity Partnership) meetings are behind closed doors," Corsi asked, "and government officials and their supporters think that's normal? But when investigative reporters want to attend and report on what is being said, we are the ones who get accused of being the conspiracy theorists?"

"By refusing to allow WND to attend as a paying customer," Corsi argued, "EuroMoney is telling the American public that they intend to conduct a secret meeting designed to teach government officials how to sell out U.S. public infrastructure to foreign investment concerns."


"I'm sure we will all be told that EuroMoney seminars and PPP structures are really for our 'security and prosperity,' just as President Bush asserts for the SPP itself," Corsi continued. "Evidently we are just supposed to close our eyes and trust government officials, investment bankers and international lawyers, putting aside national security concerns and other economic issues which we believe may be of concern to our readers."

According to the conference brochure, the purpose of the EuroMoney seminar is to teach state and local government officials in the U.S. how to lease a wide range of public assets to international and foreign private investment groups.

"Your online news service is known for its political rather than business content," EuroMoney's Joanna Johnson explained yesterday to WND in an e-mail, while refusing to allow Corsi permission to attend the conference. "We don't feel it's appropriate for a business conference."

In an Aug. 29 e-mail, Johnson told WND that the seminar was "only open to those who are internal to EuroMoney or those with whom we have a media partnership. In this instance I am unable to extend a press pass to your organization."

WND then offered to pay the full registration fee.

In response, Johnson sent a second Aug. 29 e-mail asking WND for payment details and confirming that Corsi could attend, provided WND paid the full registration fee as offered.

Yesterday's e-mail shutting the door to Corsi came after WND pressed EuroMoney to send an invoice.

"So, EuroMoney made a political decision to keep me out of their private meeting," Corsi commented, "but WND is the one EuroMoney objects to as being too political. Seems to me like a case of guilty conscience where EuroMoney is accusing WND of a fault EuroMoney knows itself to be committing."

Public-private partnerships, or PPPs, were authorized by Executive Order No. 12803 President George H.W. Bush signed on April 30, 1992, clearing federal barriers for cities and states to lease public works infrastructures to private investors.

Writing in WND, Corsi has repeatedly exposed the PPP structure the Texas Department of Transportation has used to allow Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, a foreign investment consortium in Spain, to finance the Trans-Texas Corridor, retaining for Cintra resulting rights to operate and receive tolls from TTC superhighways for 50 years after completion.

Corsi first exposed the EuroMoney seminar agenda in an article published in WND on Jan. 5, discussing an earlier EuroMoney seminar on PPP financing of public infrastructure projects scheduled for Miami in March, entitled "PPP: The North American Private Partnerships Intensive Seminar."

"This is an outrageous affront to freedom of the press," Corsi said, "but it affirms the government officials and investment bankers who are pushing PPP structures have something to hide."

The EuroMoney brochure for next week's seminar in New York indicates that attendees will include officials from the state departments of transportation in Virginia, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Texas, Delaware, Colorado and Washington, D.C.

Other attendees will be investment bankers including managing directors from the Carlyle Group, Nuveen Asset Management, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, AIG Highstar, Allstate Investments and Morgan Stanley.

The brochure names David Narefsky as the workshop leader.

Narefsky is listed as a partner in the Government Practice Group of the law firm Mayer, Brown, Row, and Maw, an international law firm that "has been counsel in the major privatizing transactions that have been completed or are now under way in the United States, including the Chicago Skyway, the Indiana Toll Road and Chicago-Midway Airport."

The brochure further notes that Narefsky has played "a leading role in these transactions," crediting Narefsky as being "actively involved in the drafting and analysis of PPP legislation for various state and local jurisdictions."

In the Jan. 5 WND article, Corsi reported a spokesman for EuroMoney in the UK told WND the target office was government employees at the state and local level who want to learn the "how-to" of putting deals together such as the one by Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte to finance the Trans-Texas Corridor.

The EuroMoney seminar brochure notes a director of Cintra from Spain is scheduled to attend the conference and speak to the attendees.

Panels at the New York seminar are scheduled to discuss the Trans-Texas Corridor, taking up such topics as "Is the politics a knee-jerk or a ground swell?" "Reviewing current activity in the state legislature," "What will the effect be on different states and the industry in general?" "Will Texas deals get through the instability?" and "What does this mean for equity partners?”

WND has reported Texas Gov. Rick Perry has vetoed a series of laws passed overwhelming by the Texas legislature with the intent of blocking TTC superhighway construction altogether, or at a minimum placing a two-year moratorium on the project.

The 300 senior decision-makers from state government, investment banking, and legal counsel that Money expects to attend the New York meeting will hear seminars instructing them how to create private finance deals on public infrastructure projects including toll roads, water treatment and waste management facilities, port infrastructure, state lotteries, airports, municipal parking, and military housing developments.

"The complex nature of politics in North America has led to challenges for financiers, investors and contractors in convincing all from local to national levels that PPP is an accountable and credible form of public finance," the EuroMoney conference brochure notes. "Moreover, on an electoral level, those in the public sector that have pushed for such solutions have often had to fight hard to gain public acceptance. What is clear is that to push projects through, strong leadership is needed, along with effective communication and an increasingly credible history of procurement success."

The conference chairman is scheduled to be Tom Nelthorpe, the editor of Project Finance Magazine, a EuroMoney publication promoting private investment structures in public infrastructure deals.

KSAT-TV General Mgr: TxDOT Needs Funding Oversight

TxDOT Not Spending Money Wisely

KSAT 12 Vice President and General Manager Jim Joslyn says that the Texas Department of Transportation needs to watch the way it spends taxpayer money

View this Editorial on video here.

TxDOT Needs Funding Oversight

SAN ANTONIO -- The Texas Department of Transportation seems to have a funny way of doing business lately.

They're spending $7 million to $9 million on an ad campaign to sell the public TxDOT's point of view on issues like toll roads.

And they're using taxpayer money to do it.

TxDOT is trying to buy back interstate highways so they can turn them into Texas toll roads and wants to spend public money to make the public feel good about it.

This -- from an agency that's also claiming $86 billion in budget shortfalls for projects that can really keep highways moving.

Where's the oversight?

As a state-run agency, TxDOT should have some answers for how it manages or mismanages millions of taxpayer dollars.

Those millions might be better spent on fixing roads than on fancy slogans.

Larson asks Hutchison for non-toll overpasses on 281!

View Bexar County Commissioner Lyle Larson and San Antonio Councilman John Clamp's letter here.

Larson asks Hutchison for non-toll overpasses on 281!
KSAT 12-TV
September 18, 2007

SAN ANTONIO -- Lyle Larson, Precinct 3 Bexar County commissioner, said Monday night that he has a new plan to put the brakes on the tolling of U.S. Highway 281.Larson sent a letter to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson asking her to assist him at the federal level by working on utilizing a portion of Texas federal highway funds for the construction of overpasses.Larson believes the construction of overpasses on the most congested portions of Highway 281 makes more sense than building toll roads.

"I'd like to see seven overpasses built north of 1604," Larson said.Hutchinson has spoken out against toll roads built on existing highways ever since the Texas Department of Transportation received the green light to build tolls along Highway 281.TXDOT plans to build the tolls on Highway 281 just north of Loop 1604 to Borgfeld Road.Larson said in light of the Senate approving a one-year moratorium on the ability to toll existing interstate highways, Hutchinson should consider Highway 281 an interstate that should not be tolled.

Dollar continues to slide, make way for the Amero

Former Federal Reserve Chief, Alan Greenspan, indicates the Federal Reserve may shift its reserve currency to the Euro due to the decline of the dollar. As Jerry Corsi warns in his book, The Late Great USA, the Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada, that the collapse of the dollar is coming in large part due to "free trade," which has undermined American wages and our national wealth which will subsequently open the door to the Amero. The excuse will go something like this. See, we can't compete with the strong European Central Bank and the Euro, so we need to join with our regional North American partners, Canada and Mexico, to remain competitive in the "global market." For a guy who criticizes Bush for abandoning smaller government, Greenspan's rush to the Euro and centralized banking and governments is interesting if not hypocritical.

Greenspan: Euro Gains As Reserve Choice
Report: Former Fed Boss Says Euro Could Replace U.S. Dollar As Favored Reserve Currency
Monday September 17, 2007
Associated Press

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- Former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said it is possible that the euro could replace the U.S. dollar as the reserve currency of choice.
According to an advance copy of an interview to be published in Thursday's edition of the German magazine Stern, Greenspan said that the dollar is still slightly ahead in its use as a reserve currency, but added that "it doesn't have all that much of an advantage" anymore.

The euro has been soaring against the U.S. currency in recent weeks, hitting all-time high of $1.3927 last week as the dollar has fallen on turbulent market conditions stemming from the ongoing U.S. subprime crisis. The Fed meets this week and is expected to lower its benchmark interest rate from the current 5.25 percent.

Greenspan said that at the end of 2006, some 25 percent of all currency reserves held by central banks were held in euros, compared to 66 percent for the U.S. dollar.

In terms of being used as a payment for cross-border transactions, the euro is trailing the dollar only slightly with 39 percent to 43 percent.

Greenspan said the European Central Bank has become "a serious factor in the global economy."

He said the increased usage of the euro as a reserve currency has led to a lowering of interest rates in the euro zone, which has "without any doubt contributed to the current economic growth."

Was bill distraction from Hutchison/Cornyn's support for Mexican trucks?

We applaud Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison for attempting to begin the long process of reining-in our rogue state agency, TxDOT, with an amendment added to an appropriations bill to ban tolling existing interstates. But the news of this amendment appeared in the press the same day Hutchison and Senator John Cornyn cast a controversial vote in support of Mexican trucks beating up our State’s highway system and putting our air quality (teetering at non-attainment in all of our urban areas already) at risk.

And that doesn’t even tackle the national security and jobs controversy swirling around the pilot Mexican trucking program. With Cornyn also feeling the political heat, he came out on Dallas TV Friday saying he’s against tolling I-35. Is this an attempt to shore-up the angry public with a politically popular position against DOUBLE TAXING drivers to use our existing interstates? (Read the pro-tollers' take on it here).

Let’s look at the bill to find out. This amendment does little overall to stop any current toll projects in the works throughout Texas. The State can still bulldoze our existing interstates to their heart's content and re-arrange the pavement to make way for toll lanes down the middle. They call them "new lanes" but they're using our existing right of way already paid for with gas taxes. So it's still a DOUBLE TAX. The State can also continue to toll existing STATE highways, all or in part, unabated event though they, too, were built with federal dollars.

TxDOT TRICKERY TO MAXIMIZE REVENUE, GUARANTEE SLUGGISH “FREE” LANES
Consider TxDOT's tricks to replace "existing lanes" with frontage roads or to narrow the width of the existing lanes (after they destroy them, then re-build them, taking twice the construction time as a freeway at more than double the cost), it will narrow the free lanes to slow down or manipulate traffic in such a way as to maximize the number of people on the tollway. Or they’ll outright steal the entire existing freeway tolling all the expressway lanes like they plan to do on US 281, making second class citizens out of those who cannot afford tolls by relegating them to frontage roads.

So it begs the question, if politicians fell all over themselves to be the first to repudiate tolling existing interstates (like Texas State Senator John Carona, State Representative Lois Kolkhorst, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, San Antonio Councilwoman Sheila McNeil), then why won’t they stop TxDOT and the tolling entities from tolling ALL existing highways?

TOUGH TALK, NO ACTION
The people of Texas are tired of tough talk and no action. They’re tired of politicians playing games with the plain meaning of words. TxDOT is tolling EXISTING STATE HIGHWAYS and rights of way, which is no different than tolling existing interstates, which they claim to object to. So why don’t we stop the tomfoolery and end this. If they want to build toll roads, make them completely NEW roads, but stop tolling our existing corridors (whether federal or state highways).

So this amendment is a start, but doesn't come close to addressing the fundamental concerns of taxpayers outraged by what’s happening in this state. On the flip side, after Hutchison and Cornyn (and Congressmen Charlie Gonzalez and Ciro Rodriguez for introducing a permanent ban in the House) kicked Ric Williamson’s teeth in with a public spanking, Williamson showed his usual arrogance by thanking Hutchison for likely hastening the addition of toll lanes to our existing roads since her amendment didn’t prohibit it and took away one of their tools in the infamous “toolbox” by prohibiting buying back segments of interstates in order to toll ALL existing lanes.

OTHER SOLUTIONS IGNORED
When the Texas A&M Study says we don't need a SINGLE toll road in Texas to meet our future transportation needs, it's confounding that some politicians either pander or press ahead over the people's objections. In any case, if ANY of these politicians want to curry favor with an incensed public, we need to see a REAL bill become LAW and FAST that puts a PERMANENT stop to tolling existing corridors in ALL of TxDOT’s machinations of them.

Overall, the privatization of our public infrastructure is far from over. The U.S. Department of Transportation just announced it will spend $66 million in YOUR GAS TAXES to attract private partners for several tolled trade corridors, many of which happen to be existing or future interstates. Notice they’re not spending the little gas tax money they claim to not have to actually build badly needed roads, rather your hard earned cash will be used to jet set bureaucrats to Europe seeking someone to foot the bill for America’s second mortgage on its highway system. Interstate10 from CA to FL and I-69 from TX to Michigan are eligible to become privately financed, tolled trade corridors called “corridors of the future.” Ominously resembles the NAFTA superhighways Bush and Perry are so fond of denying. If it looks like a duck…

The battle against unbridled toll taxation is not over either, and Senator Hutchison vows to continue to fight this DOUBLE TAXATION in its many forms. We surely hope so, but after getting repeatedly burned by the Texas Legislature, we’ll trust but verify!

Williamson's arrogance: Hutchison's ban will hasten adding "new" toll lanes to existing hwys

Link to article here. Talk about spin...Williamson arrogantly claims Hutchison's ban on tolling existing interstates will actually hasten TxDOT's scheme to add "managed" toll lanes to existing interstates. Why? Because that makes him look better when he just got kicked in the teeth...the amendment does prevent TxDOT from buying back interstates for the purpose of tolling them. TxDOT lobbied Congress to make that legal in a TRIPLE TAX revenue generating scheme more akin to a thief than the Chair of a State agency who's supposed to be serving the public. This from the man who said it's not his job to make transportation affordable! In yet another brazen comment, he thinks fiscal accountability, like not paying for the same thing two and three times over, is "outdated." Anyone still think Governor Perry and his highway Chair are still tax averse conservatives?

Hutchison adds toll ban to Senate bill
1-year freeze on old Texas interstates may speed fee on new lanes
By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Morning News
Thursday, September 13, 2007
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday passed an amendment that imposes a one-year ban on adding tolls to existing lanes of interstate highways in Texas.

But state and local highway officials say the amendment, sponsored by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, could make it easier to impose tolls on new lanes added to highways in Texas.

The amendment would affect only Texas and would expire in one year unless Congress reauthorizes it.

By exempting tolls on new interstate lanes, the moratorium could lead to new federal rules making it easier to impose tolls on new lanes – even those added to existing highways.


"We see what Senator Hutchison has done as a great step forward," said Ric Williamson, chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission.

Ms. Hutchison added the amendment to the Senate version of the housing, urban development and transportation 2008 appropriations bill – which is expected to pass later this week.

She said she opposes putting tolls on existing lanes of interstate highways because taxpayers already pay to build and maintain them.

"Today we protected Texas taxpayers from paying twice for a highway," Ms. Hutchison said in a statement. "I will continue pushing for a permanent prohibition of tolling existing highways."

Despite Mr. Williamson's praise for the amendment, Ms. Hutchison has said she filed it to defeat his department's long-standing efforts to persuade Congress to give states more latitude in imposing tolls, including tolls on existing interstate lanes.

Mr. Williamson said Wednesday that as the cost to maintain the interstate network continues to rise, the notion that the nation's highways have already been paid for has become outdated.

Still, he said he welcomes the Hutchison amendment because it helps clarify which tools his department can use to pay for badly needed new roads – and which have been taken off the table.

"I am not the elected senator from Texas, and I am not the elected governor of Texas," said Mr. Williamson, who was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry.

"My guy, who appointed me, has asked me to present a series of solutions for dealing with the $86 billion gap" between available funds and Texas' road needs. "So that's what I am doing, presenting options," he said.

It's up to Congress, and Texas elected officials, to decide which solutions to adopt, he said.

Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, said the ban on adding tolls to existing lanes won't have much effect in North Texas. He said current policy has for a decade been to reject such tolls locally.

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