Yard Sale

I know times are tough, but I trust the Obama administration can come up with a better economic plan than selling off large chunks of government-owned land in the western part of the country. Alex Tabarrok’s big idea, which I stumbled on via Ross Douthat, seems a little excessive to me—not to mention a terrible waste of our natural resources and, frankly, an invitation for trouble. It also doesn't exactly bode well for people, like ranchers, who currently reside and live off these lands.  

He writes:

"It is time for a sale. Selling even some western land could raise hundreds of billions of dollars - perhaps trillions of dollars - for the Federal government at a time when the funds are badly needed and no one wants to raise taxes. At the same time, a sale of western land would improve the efficiency of land allocation."

Who would even be in a position to buy the land, especially now, several years after the land's worth has already depreciated significantly? The Saudis? China?

Welcome to Reno, a joint subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian Government and the People’s Republic of China.

I’m being glib, I realize. I’m sure there is some economic or academic merit to this argument that I’m incapable of seeing. (Full disclosure: I have little experience dealing with bills of higher denominations than 20). Still, you’d have to admit that Tabarrok’s idea has even less of a chance of becoming a reality than Ron Paul’s famous call to disband NASA.