Privatizing The State

A new report by Good Jobs First, The Risk In Privatizing State Economic Development Agencies, couldn't be more timely.

An excerpt of their findings:

Most of the seven states that currently make use of economic development public-private partnerships (PPPs) have experienced a variety of performance problems. These include the following:

• Misuse of taxpayer funds (Rhode Island, Florida and Wyoming)
• Excessive executive bonuses (Virginia, Florida, Michigan and Wyoming)
• Questionable subsidy awards by the subset of PPPs that have a role in that process (Michigan and Rhode Island)
• Conflicts of interest in subsidy awards (Florida, Utah and Texas, which makes limited use of PPPs)
• Questionable claims by the PPP about its effectiveness (Wyoming, Florida, Utah and Indiana)
• Resistance to accountability (Florida and Michigan)

Wisconsin, Scott Walker, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, are you listening?

For Further Reading:

Dear States, Watch Out For The Privatizers