The first great transaction between a private company and a form of government was when the representative of a Dutch company paid a council of an Indian tribe $24 worth of glass beads for the rights to Manhattan Island in perpetuity.

And that deal happened right down by where Wall Street is now. So people in my business have been taking advantage of gullible governments and “officials” for a long time now.

The Chiefs of the tribe– they got some pretty decorations and the private companies– they got the real value. And the citizens of that Indian tribe—well sucks to be them!

Now we are continuing that tradition—but we coined a great new term for it. It is called “Privatization”.

And it is sweeping through cities everywhere—they are looking to privatize bridges, roads and anything else that is nailed down. Take a look at Chicago! In 2008 the city of Chicago sold a 75 year lease on all their parking meters to Morgan Stanley—Morgan Stanley was flush with cash at the time because they had just been bailed out to the tune of more than $100 BILLION dollars by the taxpayers. Morgan Stanley flipped the deal 2 months later to foreign investors in Abu Dhabi. So none of the parking revenue goes back to the citizens of Chicago anymore — but they still have to pay for the police to write tickets. And that private corporation can raise the rates on those meters anytime it chooses.
In addition—if the city wants to run a parade or shut down a street for a fair—it has to ask permission—from the corporation—in Abu DHABI!

Now what chief made that deal? Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. Who since retired…and guess who hired Richard Daley as soon as he went back to his private life? The law firm that negotiated the parking meter deal on behalf of the corporation. And you can best believe he is collecting a nice salary for an inside job well done.

And the citizens of Chicago—well…sucks to be them!