Bad Government. Is there any other kind?

Now here’s a monumentally bad idea. Florida ’s governor Charlie Crist is looking at selling the Florida toll roads to private companies. The prime candidate to be sold is Alligator Alley, the section of I-75 that goes from the east side of S. Florida over to the west side. It is basically the only way to go. It is the ONLY expressway across the Everglades and the only convenient way to get over to Naples , Cape Coral , Sanibel, etc. and the only way for people on that side to get over to Ft. Lauderdale , Miami and the Keys. So when it falls into the hands of a private company, what’s to stop them from raising the tolls from the present $2.50 up to $5 or $10 or even more? It is a virtual monopoly on a roadway. They can charge just about anything they want and people would have to ante up or drive an additional 70 miles or more on back roads to make the trip.

Governor Crist’s argument is that it will let the state garner a large sum of cash and he won’t have to raise taxes. And I’m here to tell you, that’s a load of bullshit. The LAST thing I want to see is any branch of government get it’s hands on a huge windfall of cash because the first thing they will want to do is find new ways to spend it, or more accurately, WASTE it. They will spend all the money and then raise taxes anyway to keep paying for the new government spending they wrote in when they got all the cash.

What ever happened to the idea that they will build a roadway and collect tolls until they recoup the cost of construction and then eliminate the tolls? That’s the whole idea of putting the toll on the road in the first place right? Or did everybody forget that part? Government officials will find a way to spend every cent they can get their hands on from any source they can get it from. Period. And once the cash is coming in, they aren’t going to turn off the spigot, so of course they just keep collecting the tolls.

There is no way you can convince me that selling the toll road and awarding a monopoly to a private company is in any way, shape or form, good for the citizens of S. Florida. It will end up costing the consumer more in the long run. You can bet on that.