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October 9, 2010
Putting It Togther: Who Should Be Selling Green Cards?
Noticing New York
This blog post takes a new perspective on the recent relevations that Bruce Ratner will be using the EB-5 program to attract Chinese investors for Atlantic Yards.
It kept gnawing at us: Why should this be something a private individual gets to do rather than its being the responsibility of the government? . . . Why should Bruce Ratner (and his partner Mikhail Prokhorov, a bloody Russian oligarch of all people!) get to go out and sell U.S. government-issued green cards to 498 Chinese millionaires and their families? . . . Why isn’t the issuance of green cards a government responsibility?
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So what can we afford? Here is the not-so-crazy idea we came up with when we put two and two together. Maybe we could afford a lot more if the government was the one out there handing out green cards to the high bidders. Did the MTA think they had cleverly accomplished something and squared away part of their capital budget needs when, in connection with the very low price Ratner is paying to acquire the Vanderbilt railyards from them for Atlantic Yards, they contractually obligated Mr. Ratner to build the replacement (albeit smaller and less adequate) railyard they were then going to need? By going to the Chinese Ratner isn’t the one paying to close that budget gap anymore; he’s simply passing his contractual obligation along to the Chinese. Gosh, Golly and Jumping Jehosaphat: The MTA could have gone to the Chinese directly, eliminating the middle man!
Let’s unprivatize the selling of green cards and put some money back in the government’s pocket by taking this function back! It could mean really big bucks.
The post goes on to speculate why any public officials should be part of a trip to China for that benefits a private developer (maybe it has to do with receiving a free trip with luxury accommodations).
The post ends questioning why public wealth is being transferred into private hands for no public benefit in a way that begins to mirror what happened in Russia when formerly government-owned industry was transferred into private hands under shady circumstances.
Posted by steve at October 9, 2010 9:01 AM