Speech by
William G. Reinhardt, Editor
Public Works Financing
Before the National Council for Public-Private Partnerships
Tampa, Florida
October 5, 2011
Thank you Rick.
It's an honor to be asked to speak before your Board of Directors. By definition, you are the most knowledgeable group in America about public-private partnerships?
I've learned much from you this morning. I hope I can tell you something you may not have thought of.
Let me begin with a little history. Ronald Reagan had announced a big privatization push in 1987 and put his own man, Ron Utt, into OMB to make it happen. There were great expectations.
But nobody knew for sure whether PPPs would work. For that matter, hardly anybody called them PPPs. Everything was privatization.
I'll offer you some numbers and observations later, mainly on the water and transportation markets, both of which I've tracked for almost 25 years.
But, first I'd like to set the stage more broadly.
Here's where we were in the late 1980s, early 90s.