Robbing Gordon to pay Gordon

by John Q on December 18, 2008

I wrote a piece for the Centre for Policy Development on Public Private Partnerships which was also picked up by the Canberra Times. This bit may be of interest to UK readers

The British government, which has nationalised or bailed out large parts of the banking sector is now suggesting that banks may be forced to lend to private investors in public projects under the Private Finance Initiative. In effect, the government will be lending money to itself, while paying the costs of a series of complex transactions (some of them highly vulnerable to exploitation) along the way.

{ 3 comments }

1

Pete 12.18.08 at 9:39 am

I thought that was the point of PFI.

2

lemuel pitkin 12.18.08 at 4:43 pm

banks may be forced to lend to private projects

You mean *public* projects — and say so in the linked article. How did the word get switched here?

3

John Quiggin 12.19.08 at 12:29 am

I went back and forth but have now settled on “private investors in public projects” which I think is reasonably accurate.

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