” It’s a win-win. Indiana gets $4 billion it wouldn’t have otherwise had and a private company gets the opportunity to make some money on the road. If it earns money, great. If it doesn’t, I don’t really care. Indiana got its money.”
That private company is owned and controlled by foreign interests. That means when they make money it will not be reinvested in America, it will be transferred out of America.
The money it earns will be a tax on the users of that road. Only those users don’t have say in what happens. Further there are usually stipulations on these contracts that prohibit the local governments from building new roads that might compete with the private owned toll road.
So now you are sending your money out of the US and being told by people outside the US where you can build a road.
If they make money, I think you mean to say. The Toll Road lost money when it was run by the state of Indiana. It's anyone's guess whether the new company will operate at a profit. Regardless, though, the company that now runs the Toll Road, Macquarie Infrastructure Group, is a publicly traded company. I can buy stock in it, if I so choose, and its profits will be returned to me.
The money it earns will be a tax on the users of that road. Only those users don’t have say in what happens.
Sure they did. They elected the legislature and the governor that negotiated the deal. The deal includes limits on future rates. They had their say.
Further there are usually stipulations on these contracts that prohibit the local governments from building new roads that might compete with the private owned toll road.
Well, the people of the state of Indiana sure are getting a lot more roads thanks to the deal. You're welcome to check out all the construction projects for the next ten years:
http://www.in.gov/indot/2288.htm