The argument, used by some opponents of such privatizations, that government should not sacrifice long-term revenue streams for current cash, is fallacious: That's what present-value calculations were invented for.

Rather, it all depends on what the money is used for. If it is used to pay current expenses, then it is merely a roundabout way of selling bonds (i.e., paying off old bonds) to pay current operating expenses, an awful practice. Those moneys ought to be used for other capital investments or to pay off debt, thereby clearing the books to facilitate legitimate borrowing for new capital projects.
 
In the case of New Jersey, one of the ideas for selling the Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway is to raise funds for the underfunded retirement systems. Given the poor condition of public-employee retirement systems nationally, representing decades of managerial/political malfeasance (analogous to the suddenly discovered "legacy costs" of the auto industry), this is a tough call. Using the proceeds of asset sales to pay retirement benefits is, in fact, using (old) bonds to pay for (old) operating costs that had been hidden, but are now exposed, and shocking, owing to new accounting principles.