Analysis of Governor Rick Perry’s interview with the Dallas Morning News about transportation below is provided by Susan Ridgway Garry of ACRE, a grassroots group of farmers opposed to the Trans Texas Corridor.

January 26, 2009
By Susan Ridgway Garry of ACRE

Dear Friends:

Beginning with Perry’s “vision” of the Trans-Texas Corridor criss-crossing our state’s valuable farming and ranching land with 4,500 miles of quarter-mile swaths of concrete and rail, Gov. 39% has expressed his disdain toward us rural residents and our property.  During a small meeting at the very beginning of the Corridor process, Perry’s TxDOT officials referred to the Corridor as a totally “green fields” project, the kind that the big road contractors like.  Left out of the equation was the fact that the green fields in question already belonged to Texas farmers and ranchers.  This has never bothered Perry, as he introduced the “quick take” process to condemn land for the Corridor and vetoed HB 2006 eminent domain protection.

In a recent interview with Dallas Morning News Transportation Writer Michael A. Lindenberger, it is obvious that Perry still doesn’t get it!  The entire transcript is here

Much of the interview concerns North Texas and the North Texas rail plan, but some of the comments reveal Perry’s general philosophy, if you can call it that.

Perry’s vision is misunderstood by stupid constituents

First, he implies that his constituents are stupid.  About transportation, he says, “This is an issue that too many people don’t understand.”  He claims he wants “a relatively unbiased intellectual discussion about transportation infrastructure…” Try to think “Perry” and “intellectual” at the same time; it’s impossible.

As the people who have been studying and fighting Perry’s plans for the last few years know, more and more Texans do understand the issue and disagree with Perry’s approach.  Also, Perry and his TxDOT have been doing everything they can to quash any discussion about transportation.

Perry says, “I don’t have an entrenched opposition to allowing people at the local level deciding how they are going to build their transportation infrastructure . . . there is no fairy that comes in the night and build these big projects.”
This tells us that Perry’s approach to local level decisions and regionalism is that the decision has already come down from on high that there will be a “big project,” and that he will pretend to listen to what the local people think about it.

To Perry, local people controlling their own destiny means listening to what Perry tells them is going to happen

He repeats that one of his three principles on transportation is “regionalism. . . . The folks at the regional level will decide what the appropriate user fee is to build that infrastructure.”  He says that he supports local people “controlling their own destiny.”

This is just the opposite of what his TxDOT has done all the way through the Corridor project.  Perry and TxDOT have withheld information from local areas and from citizens who have filed open record requests.  They were required to hold certain meetings.  They tried to get through this process without very many people finding out about it and submitting comments.

It was due to local groups along the Corridor routes and their local media that so many citizens knew about hearings, attended, and commented.  True local organizations are the 391 commissions that have been formed by local governments along the routes of the Corridor. Perry and TxDOT have been trying to confuse the public by forming TxDOT groups with similar names but that do not have the actual power that the 391 commissions have.  The last thing that Perry wants is local people controlling their own destiny.

Perry says rural people shouldn’t be penalized to help urban areas, but that is exactly what he intends with the Corridor, even though the Corridor wouldn’t actually be the help that urban areas need.

In regards to the gas tax, Perry says, “Does the guy in Van Horn need to be paying for the roads in Dallas?  No.  But I do have a problem with forcing someone whose transportation needs are being met to pay for somebody’s transportation needs that are not being met.”

Taking a farm in Williamson County for the Corridor IS forcing someone to pay, big time, for somebody else’s transportation needs.

Perry and his TxDOT have tried to take away the choice to drive or not to drive on a toll road. Perry tells Lindenberger, “This is the beauty of (the reliance on toll roads).  My dad says, ‘I ain’t never going to drive on a toll road.’ You know what? He doesn’t have to.  That’s the beauty of what we have created here.  For those who for philosophical or any other reason don’t want to drive on a toll road, they don’t have to.  It’s the beauty of choice.”

With Perry’s non-compete clause in toll road contracts prohibiting building or maintaining roads a certain distance from a toll road, this DOES mean that drivers don’t have a choice.  They have to drive on a toll road, or NO road, or a dangerous crumbling road.  TxDOT’s violation of the legislative intent that free lanes not be converted to toll lanes also takes away choice.  There is no “choice.”  Perry thinks that his constituents are so uninformed that they don’t know this.

A truly chilling account from Perry on the origins of the Trans-Texas Corridor idea

I can’t do better than to just quote Perry:

“An analogy would be, I had laid out in my mind’s eye, and even made it public, that this is the big mansion that I want to build. Here are the house plans for this really magnificent place I want to build for my family and the people I love.

“Well, you start the process and there are a lot of changes that occur, for whatever reason. Your wife didn’t like that bedroom being there, she wanted … way too big a game room and not big enough utility room . . . whatever. All these things that go on in people’s real lives, that’s what went on with this.”

Brilliant! Comparing what the landowners in the path of the Corridor have gone through the last several years to a couple building a house is a stupid analogy!  And if anyone should not be mentioning mansions, it is Perry, since it was on his watch with the decreased security at the Governor’s mansion, that the people’s beautiful historic mansion was almost destroyed.
Perry implies that we owners of farms are stupid

Perry said, “I laid out a very broad-based, 50-year plan—and a lot of times people missed the 50-year part of it, they thought, ‘They are going to build 4,500 miles in 10 years and, oh my God, my farm is gone.’”

So, first, according to Perry, us stupid farm owners misunderstood the 50-year part.  It should be perfectly fine with us if the state and a foreign corporation take the family farm away from our children and grandchildren in 50 years.
Second, it is not necessary for him to take the Lord’s name in vain.

And, thirdly, for those of us who saw our farms fall within the Master Plan from Cintra, the Spanish corporation, it was indeed, “My farm is gone.”

Perry implies that people are not going to be paying attention to this issue anymore without the Trans-Texas Corridor name, and that we don’t remember and don’t care that he tried his hardest to take our land away.

He says, “Is the name still around? Are the same people that were mad two years ago still mad today? I would suggest to you no.”  I would suggest to him not only yes, but heck yes!

Perry denigrates grass-roots volunteer efforts—if we weren’t having an impact, he wouldn’t lower himself to talk about us.

Lindenberger raises two important points related to the impact of grass-roots efforts against Perry and the Corridor.  First, he says to Perry, “It seems clear that something fell apart politically for you in 2006, when you faced strong opposition in your re-election campaign [thus resulting in Gov. 39%], and then in 2007 when lawmakers rebelled at the idea of bringing foreign companies to Texas to build and operate toll roads—for a profit.”

Then, Lindenberger also points out, “Among the most persistent complaints among the grass-roots opposition to the Trans Texas Corridor has been your relentless push for not just toll roads, but for privatization, too. Among the criticism has been the observation that you have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from some of the same companies that went on to win contracts to build some of these roads. Is that a fair criticism?

Perry totally reverses the order of what happened, as pointed out in the question.  The sequence is that Perry received hundreds of thousands of dollars and then the companies won road contracts.

Perry turns the question around and responds, “People contribute to my campaign because they like my philosophy and they like what I implement.”

Then he once more insults some of his constituents, knocking down the straw man of not building any roads at all.  “If the grass-roots toll groups . . . had substantial influence, we wouldn’t be building any roads at all.”  And Perry is so vindictive and petty, he has to make an uncalled-for attack on former Austinite Sal Costello, who worked tirelessly against toll roads and the Corridor on a volunteer basis:  “Sal Costello had to move out of the state, it got to be such a poor way to make a living.”

Sal did not make a living out of it; he put his own money and time into the fight and had a lot of success.  He was the David against the Goliath of Perry and his contributors.  Lindenberger points out in a note:

Costello, founder of a group called Austin Toll Party, is credited with helping stop some taxpayer-funded roads in Austin from being converted to toll roads. His blistering attacks made him a prolific anti-toll road gadfly. He announced earlier this month he had moved to a small town in Illinois and given up what he called his costly “obsession” with campaigning against toll roads.

Attacking volunteers—giving big contracts to big contributors—Is this any way to run the state? If Perry thinks that it is an attractive trait to publicly attack citizens volunteering to make the state a better place and rural residents who are simply trying to save their farms and ranches, he is sadly mistaken.  It is Perry and his big contributors who are “making a living” out of this—a rather large living, when private corporations get in the position, through their influence on the Governor, to wield the power of the government against private citizens.

TURF Board member Hank Gilbert is the President of the 391 planning commission in the Piney Woods/Nacogdoches region and they’re using local government to challenge the Trans Texas Corridor. Go Hank!

PRESS RELEASE -January 16, 2009

The Piney Woods Sub-Regional Planning Commission (PWSRPC) took another step in the process of maintaining local control of future highway construction during a meeting held with TxDOT representatives last week.  The over-flow capacity crowd of public supporters caused the PWSRPC-TxDOT meeting to be moved to a much larger meeting room in the Nacogdoches County Courthouse Annex.  This did not miss the attention of the three TxDOT officials, two of which were from the Austin Office, and the panel of consultants TxDOT brought with them, as nearly a hundred local citizens turned out to hear the Planning Commission’s President, Hank Gilbert, grill TxDOT as to their plans.
Doug Booher, ‘on the scene’ Environmental Manager stated, “We’re not going to pursue the 4,000 mile network.  We are going to continue to pursue two individual projects; one of them would be the I-35 corridor project and the other one would be the I-69 corridor project.”

When asked the question from the attending audience about a loop that once was planned to go around the West side of Nacogdoches, Booher stated, “I’m sure those plans would be dusted off and looked at again.”  He also stated the name ‘Trans Texas Corridor’ would be ‘phased out’ and mentioned several times that tolling and public/private partnerships (by foreign investors) would still be an option in TxDOT’s transportation plans.
Hank Gilbert also expressed to PWSRPC members that he is concerned about legislation Governor Perry may try to pass that would eliminate SRPC’s, such as the Piney Woods.

“We have people watching out for such legislation and if it is introduced, we will need for the citizens of Texas to call their Representatives and let them know that they want to keep their local SRPC’s,” Gilbert stated.
The strong show of public support for the PWSRPC’s meeting with TxDOT validates the desire of the public for input and information.  The NEXT Piney Woods Sub-Regional Planning Commission meeting will be with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Representatives on Thursday, February 5, at 10:00 a.m. in the Nacogdoches County Annex.  This will also be an open meeting and the public is urged to attend.  As Board Member Larry Shelton has stated, “You are either at the table or you are on the menu.”

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Trans Texas Corridor renamed, not dead

TURF reaction to TxDOT announcement:

The announcement by TxDOT Executive Director Amadeo Saenz at the Texas Transportation Forum that the “Trans Texas Corridor, as it was originally envisioned, is no more,” is just another in a series of comments to lead opponents into believing the Trans Texas Corridor is indeed dead. TURF believes this is a deliberate move to dupe opponents into complacency, and we expect iron-clad action before we begin celebrating victory.

It’s clear from the TxDOT Director’s speech, that it’s only a name change and the Trans Texas Corridor is, in reality, going underground.

This fact is evident in just about every news source across the state:

“‘Amadeo told folks at the forum that the Trans-Texas Corridor, as it was originally envisioned, is no more,’ Amacker (Saenz spokesperson) said. ‘Instead, what we’ve got is a series of smaller projects.’

Those ‘smaller projects’ will apparently include the 300-plus miles of what has been called TTC-35 from San Antonio to the Oklahoma border and the I-69 project from the Rio Grande Valley to Texarkana. But they will not be called the Trans-Texas Corridor.” — Austin American Statesman

________________________________________________________

“Other than backpedaling from the Trans-Texas Corridor brand, and the goals and priorities set over the years, the Trans-Texas Corridor remains intact.

TxDOT still plans to partner with private corporations to build and lease projects. Toll roads, truck-only lanes and rail lanes are also still on the table.

Environmental studies for the I-35 and East Texas corridor segments still chug through the pipeline. And a development contract with Cintra of Spain and Zachry Construction Co. of San Antonio, for projects paralleling I-35, is still valid.” — San Antonio Express-News

_________________________________________________________

“The renewed effort now will operate under the name ‘Innovative Connectivity Plan.'” — Houston Chronicle
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No law has been changed, no minute order rescinded, no environmental document re-done (as is required by federal law), and there are still two contracts signed giving two Spanish companies the right of first refusal on segments of the corridor previously known as TTC-35  & TTC-69. So by every real measure, the Trans Texas Corridor goes on full steam ahead. What today’s hype was about is a political ploy to make the public go back to sleep while it gets built under a different name. While we welcome genuine responsiveness from TxDOT and a true repeal of the Trans Texas Corridor, this hardly qualifies.

Lets just say, we agree with Senator Robert Nichols’ statement in the Dallas Morning News:

“If it is just a name change, and nothing more, I don’t think that is going to do much to appease lawmakers,” said Nichols, R-Jacksonville.

This last minute rule change MANDATES market-based tolling nationwide. Remember, it started here in Texas with the counterfeit moratorium bill, SB 792, that Rick Perry signed into law with glee largely due to the market-based tolling provision. It unleashed the MOST EXPENSIVE transportation tax on Texas and, as we predicted, across the country.

Market-based tolls means charging motorists “whatever the market will bear,” bringing us the HIGHEST possible toll tax. It’s runaway, punitive taxation based on greed, not the actual cost of constructing the road or retiring the debt. This will be the Bush-Perry legacy: name your price and we’ll hand over Americans’ wallets. We were the only grassroots group that actively fought this provision from becoming law. Help us fight to roll back this rule change and fight against tolls on freeways and the Trans Texas Corridor on the federal and state level next year. Sign-up for our email alerts here.

Bush road rule takes effect Jan-Transportation Dept
Thu, Dec 18 2008
http://www.afxnews.com by Lisa Lambert

WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) – The Bush administration will finalize changes on toll road regulations on Friday that it says will make privatizing infrastructure more efficient, counter to the view of leading Congressional Democrats that it will rob states of revenue and drive up tolls.

A Department of Transportation spokesman told Reuters on Thursday that details of the rule will be published in the Federal Register and will go into effect on Jan. 18.

The rule will require states to charge public toll authorities fair market value to lease roads built with federal assistance, in the hopes of making the authorities equal competitors with members of the private sector, said Doug Hecox.

“When a company wants to come in and bid for the work, they need to have some idea as to what the value of that would be,” Hecox said. The transportation department worked with states on the regulation changes, he said.

“In some states they may give the first pick or first chance to public agencies before they give it out to the private sector. In that case, it’s a little risky because there’s no guarantee they’re going to be choosing the fair market value,” he said.

In a letter sent to Transportation Secretary on Monday, Reps. James Oberstar and Peter DeFazio said that relying on fair market values would push up the fees to drive on those roads and that the values “bear no relation to the true financing, construction, operating and maintenance costs of the facility.”

Oberstar, a Minnesota Democrat, chairs the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation Committee, and DeFazio, a California Democrat, chairs its Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.

A committee spokesman said they had no comment on the finalization of the rule, which was proposed Oct. 8.

The representatives have said that changes to how toll roads are valued should be made in the upcoming transportation bill, to be written in 2009. But Hecox said the administration is concerned that might delay establishing a standard when the appetite for public-private partnerships is growing and states are looking into alternatives to fund infrastructure projects.

In most of the partnerships, also called “P3s,” a corporation leases a road from a state and then recoups its losses through levying tolls. The leases extend for decades so the companies may also deduct depreciation costs from their taxes, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Because the partnerships are fairly new in the United States, the GAO, the nonpartisan congressional investigative office, has not been able to quantify how many exist in the country.

The rule change will provide consistency for the corporations bidding for the contracts in different states, Hecox said.

“The businesses that…are waiting to compete for this kind of work can do so from a position of a level playing field, rather than having to be the best friend of the governor in this state or the best friend of the mayor in that state,” he said.

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert) Keywords: MUNIS ROADS/

(lisa.lambert@thomsonreuters.com; +1-202-898-8328; Reuters Messaging: lisa.lambert.reuters.com@reuters.net)

Link to article here.

Bailed-Out Bank Goes on Toll Road Buying Binge
Bailed out Citigroup fund spends $10 billion buying 44 foreign toll roads.
The Newspaper.com
December 1, 2008

Just one week after receiving a pledge of $306 billion in support from US taxpayers, Citigroup announced the intended $10 billion acquisition of a debt-laden Spanish toll road group. Citi Infrastructure Partners will hand over $3.6 billion in cash and assume $6.3 billion in debt from Sacyr Vallehermoso, the parent company of the Intinere Infraestructuras toll road group. Itinere operates 32 toll roads in Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Portugal and Spain and Ireland. Another twelve concessions are under construction. Sacyr today issued a statement to Spanish investors noting that the company succeeded in offloading 37 percent of its total debt to the US firm.

“With this transaction, the group reaps the value that Itinere accumulated for its mature concession assets and strengthens its financial situation by considerably reducing its indebtedness,” the statement explained.

On November 23, the US Treasury announced that it had invested $20 billion in US taxpayer funds in Citigroup in addition to “protection against the possibility of unusually large losses” on $306 billion in bad debt the company had acquired primarily in commercial and residential real estate markets. Armed with the new taxpayer capital, Citigroup believes its purchase of the toll roads will hold long-term value. In the immediate term, Citigroup will sell off Itinere’s stakes in five Spanish and Chilean toll roads to Spanish tolling giant Abertis, allowing that company to assume full ownership of its tolling assets. The deal is valued at $786 million.

Other analysts, including Fitch Ratings, view tolling as a risky investment as toll road volumes have plummeted in response to the recent spikes in gasoline prices and the global economic slowdown. In August, Fitch issued a warning that its outlook on tolling had changed to “negative,” reflecting a dim view of the creditworthiness of the long-term transactions. In October, Citigroup and Abertis gave up on their joint bid to collect tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The consortium spent millions bankrolling a slick public relations campaign that ultimately failed to sway public opinion on the wisdom of the 75-year proposal.

Link to article here.

Ports to Plains is one of the identified Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) routes, and this Dumas bridge is a vital gateway to making it happen. So don’t believe it when politicians claim the Trans Texas Corridor is dead. How can it be when it barrels ahead all over the state unabated. Unless the Legislature revokes the law and repeals all policies allowing the TTC, it WILL continue.

$17M OK’d for Ports-to-Plains Dumas bridge
By Chris Ramirez
Amarillo Globe-News
11/12/08
DUMAS – A longtime plan to stretch a railroad overpass across U.S. Highway 87 in Dumas has finally been funded.

The $17.71 million project was included in a $1.8 billion spending package approved last month by the Texas Transportation Commission for new construction statewide.The project is one of several pitched by backers of the Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor, an ambitious concept that seeks to foster commercial trade from Texas to Canada. In all, $140 million will go to Ports-to-Plains projects.

The overpass will relieve congestion that erupts in downtown Dumas when freight trains block First Street, which leads to the Monsanto agriculture manufacturing plant.

Word of the funding was welcome news to police and fire officials, who have long warned about trains slowing their response to emergency calls.

“If we have a 100-car train go through here … we have no access, none,” said Milton Pax, Moore County commissioner of Precinct 3.

U.S. Highway 87 runs north-south through most of the central Texas Panhandle, but turns into a west-east road at First Street in Dumas. Getting to the Monsanto plant from the city means crossing a set of street-level railroad tracks about 1 mile from downtown.

Dumas fire Chief Paul J. Jenkins warned of the dangers of the increase in train traffic and road blockage on First Street and at Farm-To-Market Road 722, another crossing, in an Aug. 20 letter. Going around could delay response, he wrote.

Fire officials respond to 40-60 calls each year for service west of the city, records show.

“When a train comes through here, we’re completely cut off from the western side of the county,” said Jeff Turner, chief executive of the Moore County Hospital District. “We could literally could have someone 25 feet away and couldn’t do anything about it until it passes.”

Also submitting letters were Monsanto, the Dumas Police Department and the local school district.

Funding for the projects will come from bonds under Proposition 14, which voters supported in 2003.

The debt will support development and construction projects through 2011, said Michael Reeves, president of the Ports-to-Plains Corridor coalition.

The county may start taking bids on the project in December 2010, Pax said.

© The Amarillo Globe-News Online

Link to article here. Never doubt that corporations will get their money, even in the midst of a natural disaster. Yet again, the taxpayers are on the hook for something they have absolutely no control over…hurricanes! So much for corporate benevolence!

State must pay waived toll road fees
The Associated Press
September 22, 2008

MUNSTER, Ind. — Indiana will reimburse the private operator of the Indiana Toll Road for the state’s decision to temporarily waive fees along the tollway to alleviate congestion during floods that closed northwestern Indiana freeways for days.

Jane Jankowski, a spokeswoman for Gov. Mitch Daniels, said Friday that the state will reimburse Macquarie-Cintra — a Spanish and Australian consortium — for its lost revenue. She said she doesn’t know how much it will cost the state to make good on the lost tolls.

The state’s decision upsets Margie Stewart, an Indiana Toll Road employee and Teamsters Union representative.

“Why should the taxpayers pay for this? The company is making plenty of money. It was a disaster here. They could have helped,” Stewart said Friday.

Jankowski said the funds will come from the $3.8 billion the state received from the foreign consortium for the 75-year lease agreement to operate and profit from the toll road.

The private operator, called the Indiana Toll Road Concession Co., and the Indiana Department of Transportation announced Tuesday that tolls would be temporarily suspended on Interstate 90 on a 25-mile section from Portage west to the Indiana-Illinois border after Interstate 80/94 was closed by flooding. A portion of Interstate 65 was also closed.

The closures caused large traffic jams from traffic that had to be detoured. State Rep. Dan Stevenson, D-Highland, called on Daniels to suspend tolls to ease traffic. Tolls went back into effect Thursday, the same day the freeways reopened.

Link to article below here. See related story here. See article warning of limited financing and limited profits for toll roads here.

The bailout of private industry by the U.S. taxpayer has stirred-up unparalleled outrage among the grassroots. By hook or by crook, the federal government is aiding and abetting corporate greed that repeatedly runs away with the profits, but leaves the taxpayers with the tab when the bubble bursts. There can be no doubt that the next BIG financial crisis where private industry comes crying to the taxpayers for a bailout will be the emerging “infrastructure market,” aka – toll roads.

With the financial collapse of Wall Street banks, and even the insurance company that insures municipal bonds, AIG, money for infrastructure will be hard to come by and it come at an extremely high cost if it CAN be found. The continued rise in the price of oil coupled with the declining dollar, and rising unemployment, the economic warning signs show few will be able afford an additional toll tax to get to work. Who will bailout the toll roads when they fail to produce the revenues owed to bond investors? You guessed it, the brow-beaten U.S. taxpayer. Time for a true taxpayer revolt at the ballot box this November to avert yet another financial catastrophe!

Bailout uncertainty sinks Wall Street
By Steven C. Johnson
Mon. Sep 22, 2008
Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks tumbled on Monday as investors worried a $700 billion bailout for the financial sector may not resuscitate a slumping economy, while a record spike in oil prices renewed concern about consumer spending.

Banks, home builders and big manufacturers were among the biggest decliners as negotiations over the government’s rescue plan to mop up bad mortgage debt on banks’ balance sheets heated up in Washington.

Investors also dumped consumer-oriented companies and airlines as oil surged $16.37 to settle at $120.92 a barrel, its biggest one-day jump on record. A sharp fall in the dollar added to oil’s gains.

A Wall Street analyst downgrade hit shares of JPMorgan Chase, the No 3 U.S. bank, which fell 13.3 percent, making it the top drag on both the Dow and the S&P 500. Wells Fargo dropped 11.6 percent. For details, see

The S&P financial index shed 8.5 percent, while an index of airline stocks fell 9.4 percent.

Monday’s market swoon wiped out nearly all the gains seen on Friday when the bailout announcement sparked Wall Street’s best one-day advance since 1987. Only 2 of the Nasdaq 100 stocks end higher.

Investors cited uncertainties about the rescue plan’s details and concern about whether it would provide a lift for the U.S. economy, which many fear is already in recession.

“Here it is Monday and people are waking up from a gigantic hangover, trying to figure out what’s next,” said John Schloegel, vice president of investment strategies for Capital Cities Asset Management in Austin, Texas.

“There’s pain ahead for the economy, pain for the consumer, pain at the gas pump,” he said. “And we’re getting hit with a double whammy today with commodities moving higher.”

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 372.75 points, or 3.27 percent, to 11,015.69. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slid 47.99 points, or 3.82 percent, to 1,207.09. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 94.92 points, or 4.17 percent, to 2,178.98.

The Bush administration is pressing Congress to approve one of the costliest U.S. bailouts for financial companies since the Great Depression, but debate about the particulars of the plan continues on Capitol Hill.

A top Congressional Democrat on Monday said Treasury had agreed to take an equity stake in the firms that unload assets under the rescue plan, though other details remain unclear.

“There is lingering uncertainty about the overall economy despite the moves to shore up the financial markets,” said Michael James, senior trader at regional investment bank Wedbush Morgan in Los Angeles.

“Clearly the weakness in the financial markets has been part of the drag on the economy in the first nine months, but it has not been the only drag. Merely shoring up the weak financial markets is not necessarily a salve to the overall economy’s problems.”

With oil prices up sharply, investors sold shares of consumer-oriented companies, including Procter & Gamble, down 3.3 percent at $68.04. Shares of Target Corp, the No. 2 U.S. discount retailer, dropped 6.6 percent to $49.80 after Lazard Capital Markets cut the stock to “hold” from buy.” Earlier during the session, U.S. oil futures prices shot up as high as $130 a barrel.

Uncertainty about the bailout overshadowed news that Japan’s largest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, planned to buy a stake in Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are abandoning their investment bank model of two decades to become bank holding companies regulated by the Federal Reserve.

Morgan Stanley shares fell 0.4 percent to $27.09 after earlier adding more than 10 percent, while Goldman Sachs shares dropped 7 percent to $120.78.

JPMorgan Chase shares fell 13.3 percent to $40.80 while Wells Fargo shares fell 11.6 percent to $35.18.

Among home builders, shares of Hovnanian Enterprises declined 6.5 percent to $8.46.

Meanwhile, shares of Caterpillar Inc , an economic bellwether and a Dow component, lost 2.8 percent to $64.60.

Kraft Foods Inc, a new member of the 30 Dow industrials, effective at Monday’s opening bell, also dropped 4.6 percent to $33.09.

On Nasdaq, shares of Apple fell 7 percent to $131.05 after JPMorgan cut its price target on the iPod and iPhone maker’s stock.

About 1.27 billion shares changed hands, below last year’s estimated daily average of roughly 1.90 billion, on the New York Stock Exchange, while on Nasdaq, about 1.93 billion shares traded, also below last year’s daily average of 2.17 billion.

Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by more than 4 to 1. On the Nasdaq, decliners beat advancers by about 3.5 to 1.

Link to article here.

When you read Cintra’s reaction to this news, that the North Texas Toll Authority is overextended financially and may not be able to meet its obligations, it’s not hard to predict where the wind is blowing on toll roads. Despite the near total collapse of the financial markets and subsequent government takeover, these private investors are still salivating over the thought of hijacking our public highways and forcing us to pay homage, a toll tax, to get anywhere.

If you think that because credit is tight and toll road ridership is falling that such conditions should be enough reason for authorities to scrap these toll plans, think again. More than ever, the government will seek private capital, even though cash is tight. How will they pay it back with so few able to pay tolls on a daily basis? Jack up the tolls to make up for fewer drivers. The insidious cycle will continue unless the taxpayers demand change!

Credit crunch puts State Highway 161 toll road in jeopardy

10:53 PM CDT on Wednesday, September 17, 2008

By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News
mlindenberger@dallasnews.com Radically shifting fortunes on Wall Street have left the North Texas Tollway Authority scrambling to keep a key promise it made last year when it won the right to pay $3.2 billion for the State Highway 121 toll road.

On Wednesday, NTTA made clear that its ability to keep that promise has been compromised by the nation’s financial uncertainties.

NTTA chairman Paul Wageman again delayed a decision on whether to build the highly anticipated State Highway 161 toll road. Just months ago, the toll contract was seen as a lucrative sure bet and had been the subject of months of acrimonious negotiations between NTTA and state transportation officials.

“Needless to say, the financial markets are in high stress,” Mr. Wageman told a packed room of more than 150 contractors, consultants and engineers eager to hear which direction the agency is moving. Another delay is “the prudent thing to do,” he said.

The pause gives NTTA another month to seek hundreds of millions of dollars in loans on the terms it needs, which include deferred payments until after construction is complete.

That the agency would be struggling to borrow money for SH 161 is surprising on a number of fronts, not least because that road, like the larger SH 121 deal, is one of the few toll projects NTTA has promised to deliver that is expected to be profitable.

Some critics, including the executives at the Spanish firm NTTA beat out last year for the SH 121 project, allege the authority is simply overextended. To the firm, NTTA’s delays on SH 161 foreshadow problems it will have with finding money to pay for many of the projects it has promised to build.

“They mortgaged every room in the house,” said Jose Lopez, North American president for Cintra. “They don’t have the leverage left to borrow the money they need for the long list of projects they have promised. Sure, there may be value there in 10 or 20 years, but does Dallas-Fort Worth want to wait that long for those roadways?”

NTTA says it’s not overextended. Instead, the NTTA is facing a temporary credit crunch that will ease once the credit market rights itself, officials there said.

But NTTA president Jorge Figueredo has said that the agency’s ability to keep promises made a year ago will probably depend on how soon the credit markets stabilize.

“We have been looking at all the projects on our list, and looking at when will these projects be ready to go, when will we actually need the money to get started?” he said. “But if the markets continue to go sour and TxDOT and RTC and ourselves don’t have ability to leverage each other, then what we thought was possible a year will likely not be possible.”

What NTTA promised is that in addition to paying for SH 121, the agency would borrow another $7 billion to pay for six additional toll roads that would open by 2015.

But almost immediately after winning the SH 121 contract, the credit markets began to act unexpectedly. And as some companies stopped dealing in municipal bonds, others began trimming back the kinds of loans they offer.

NTTA has scrambled to not only find money for new projects, but also to retire short-term debt it took out for SH 121.

Wednesday’s delay won’t immediately slow the completion of SH 161, which is under construction, news that will probably reassure Grand Prairie commuters anxious for an alternative to jammed State Highway 360.

But NTTA is looking hard at other projects, including the big Southwest Parkway Corridor toll project in Fort Worth. Delays to that project will cost $10 million a month. But on Wednesday, NTTA opted to study again the finances for that project, given that costs have gone up as available tax dollars for the project have gone down.

Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, said NTTA’s delays are worrisome, especially because other sources of road funds – including the state – are also under increasing strain.

“This is very important,” Mr. Morris said, noting that NTTA’s original plan included paying billions for SH 121, while still having enough available for additional projects. “If you go back to last summer, when the vote for 121 was held, I think the regional transportation council said, ‘We know there are some risks out there, but we want to vote for our partner. And NTTA is our partner.’ ”

Now it’s time for NTTA to figure out a way to reward that faith, said Mr. Morris, who was among the fiercest advocates for letting Cintra build SH 121.

He has since supported NTTA in its negotiations with the state and says the region has no choice but to work together.

That’s what NTTA vice chairman Victor Vandergriff had in mind Wednesday. Looking at the billions of dollars the agency will need to borrow to make good on its promises, he suggested it may need help from the state or regional partners.

“That’s a lot of money, and while we can expect profits to flow, they aren’t going to be seen for maybe 40 or 50 years,” Mr. Vandergriff said Wednesday. “I urge us as we are proceeding forward to talk with our regional partners and with TxDOT, to think through how we do these projects.”

It must be election season and the signs show incumbents are feeling the heat. Senate Finance Committee Chair, Steve Ogden, makes it plain that he plans to vote to toll urban areas as long as the Trans Texas Corridor doesn’t come through his district. Can you say, backroom deal? He’s voted for every major piece of toll road legislation, including the bill that authorized the Trans Texas Corridor (HB 3588), now he seeks to cover his own tail by selling out the millions of Texans in urban areas with crippling toll taxes just to get to work!

Don’t believe the TTC is dead for ONE MINUTE. Read why here.
Ogden: TTC plans may be scrapped
By Philip Jankowski
Taylor Daily Press
September 12, 2008

In an interview with the Taylor Daily Press, State Sen. Steve Ogden revealed a possible new course for the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor.

Instead of building superhighways across the state, Ogden said, the state may opt to augment the Texas Trunk System, a web of rural highways that includes U.S. 79.

The plan would expand those highways to four-lane divided highways, while expanding urban infrastructure with toll roads.

“We need to limit that concept to existing highways,” Ogden said of the proposed network of superhighways and tiered rail systems. “I passed a bill last session that did that, but [Gov. Rick Perry] vetoed it. I’m happy to report that he may have changed his mind.”

One of the main reasons for backing away from the Trans-Texas Corridor concept is the daunting amount of funding necessary to complete the 4,000 mile road project, he said. In 2002, the project was estimated to cost the state $145.2 billion to $183.5 billion. In today’s dollars that amount has grown to about $169.9 billion to $214.7 billion, according to current inflation figures.

Included in the price is the cost of acquiring more than half a million acres of right of way for the 1,200 foot wide corridor, which has drawn much ire from communities – including Taylor, Granger and Coupland – that lay in study areas.

“I don’t think there ever was a possibility that that could occur,” Ogden said. “There never was the funding.”

Despite the possible change in direction for transportation, Taylor already is a step ahead of the rest of the trunk system as far as expansion goes. The county and city recently approved an interlocal agreement that effectively took portions of U.S. 79 in East Williamson County out of the Texas Department of Transportation’s jurisdiction for construction purposes so they could be expanded at a quicker pace.

Construction has already begun east of Taylor.

Ogden said he will work to avoid budget shortages that led the county and city to turn their backs on TxDOT by placing more oversight on how the department spends its money. The Texas Legislature’s Transportation Committee recently decided to give the problem-beleaguered department a cash infusion of $1.5 billion.

Currently the Legislature writes TxDOT’s budget, but the department has not followed recommended appropriations, Ogden said.

“Except for the bottom line, the way TxDOT spends their money is not how we appropriate it,” he said.

Ogden said there is legislation in the works that would require TxDOT’s spending to fall more in line with legislative recommendations.

And as chairman of the Finance Committee, Ogden is in a unique position to be influential on how that money is spent.

“I’ll write their budget,” he said. “We’re going to better align their budget with the state’s budget.”