Headlines
Guess who would benefit from privatizing Medicare?
WA: Liquor privatization: prices could rise 10 to 30 percent
OH: Ohio State gets $483M bid for parking lease
OH: ODOT looking to privatize 5 state-owned rest areas
WI: Wisconsin’s pension system is doing fine – opinion
WI: Overhaul of Wisconsin welfare program criticized

Guess who would benefit from privatizing Medicare?
If you think the idea of privatizing Medicare has gone away, that the health insurance industry has thrown in the towel on one of its biggest goals, there was fresh evidence last week that you would be wrong. As I wrote more than a year ago — when Rep. Paul Ryan (R.-Wis.) unveiled his plan to replace the Medicare system with one that would essentially be run by private insurers — Democrats would be foolish to think that Ryan couldn’t get the public to support the concept. I noted then that insurers would be investing heavily in efforts to convince people that Ryan’s plan represented the only way to save the Medicare program from insolvency. Huffington Post

WA: Liquor privatization: prices could rise 10 to 30 percent
Washington state has extricated itself from decades in the liquor business, a move that is likely to give drinkers a headache when they reach for bottled spirits on local store shelves. Under a measure approved by voters in November, Washington on Friday became the first state since the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 to privatize a government-run liquor retail and distribution system dating to the 1930s. …The bad news for customers is that on average, per-bottle prices on liquor could rise between 10 percent and 30 percent, retailers say. The initiative imposed a new fee structure that raises those costs by 27 percent, which will likely be passed on to consumers, said Brian Smith, spokesman for the Washington State Liquor Control Board. Reuters

OH: Ohio State gets $483M bid for parking lease
The deal, still tentative, for a 50-year lease to run the university’s parking lots is one of several steps by Ohio State to build its financial reserves as government support dwindles. The City of Chicago made a similar deal in 2009, granting a 75-year lease of its parking meters to a private company…The university recently sold 100-year bonds, a first for a public university, raising $500 million; it made a $25 million exclusive deal with a local bank for campus A.T.M.’s and other services and is looking into privatizing its airport…Colleges and universities have increasingly looked to deals with outside businesses to raise money, turning over parking lots or campus bookstores to private operators, typically in return for a stream of revenue. But a half-century deal with a huge upfront payment is another matter…The plan has stirred controversy on a campus where, according to the school, about 100,000 students and employees park each day. Responding to concerns, the university has included in the deal limits on price increases, and flexibility to increase parking supply. Chicago’s parking meter lease raised $1.15 billion for the city, but it has been widely criticized as leading to steep price increases and a chronic problem of malfunctioning meters. New York Times

OH: ODOT looking to privatize 5 state-owned rest areas
ODOT Director Jerry Wray has said the leases could help offset the costs of maintaining the state’s 104 rest areas, which cost the state $30 million and $50 million annually to maintain. Two rest areas along U.S. Route 50 in Athens County, two along U.S. Route 33 in Hocking County and one rest stop along U.S. 23 in Pickaway County are in question. The request opens the door for bidders to potentially lease the rest areas and allow the bidders to place convenience stores, gas stations, restaurants or other commercial entities on the sites. Bids are due by July 20. 10TV.com

WI: Wisconsin’s pension system is doing fine – opinion
An op-ed published Thursday in the Journal Sentinel from the right-wing, Washington, D.C.,-based Heritage Foundation suggested that changes should be made to our state’s pension program for hundreds of thousands of educators and other public workers in Wisconsin. The implication of these proposed changes is that the Wisconsin Retirement System is in need of improvement or better management or that it is in financial peril. Nothing could be further from the truth…The reality is that the WRS is one of the best-run, best-funded and most secure retirement systems in the nation. Even during the recent economic collapse, it remained stable, when systems in other states did not fare as well. This is owed to proper management and investments – and sound financial decisions that benefit every taxpayer of Wisconsin, not just the ones whose delayed compensation is invested into their retirement through the WRS…Don’t listen to out-of-state conservative talking points from the Heritage Foundation; the real risk is in privatizing the WRS, which is what is motivating the WRS study Gov. Scott Walker included in the current state budget. This is yet another way to provide a political kickback to Walker’s out-of-state supporters. The privatization scheme has been tried in other states, to negative consequence, which included hefty fees for users and deteriorating returns. Journal Sentinel

WI: Overhaul of Wisconsin welfare program criticized
Dane County Executive Joe Parisi is leading a statewide coalition calling for an immediate suspension of the Walker administration’s plans to overhaul the way the state’s welfare-to-work program is delivered. Wisconsin Works, known as W-2, started in 1997 as part of a national welfare reform movement aimed at encouraging families to work toward self-sufficiency. It offers people monthly cash payments for participating in job training and employment programs with the goal of connecting low-income families with job opportunities and emergency assistance. W-2 is currently run by 20 individual counties, six groups of counties, and a number of private contractors, state officials said. But Parisi accused the state Department of Children and Families (DCF) of having “quietly put in motion” changes that would effectively fully privatize the program. He said the DCF’s move could result in the closing of the Dane County Job Center and other “one-stop-shop” county job centers around the state. Central Wisconsin Hub