What is the Value of US Government Owned Land?

[Gone To Texas]

Our public debt is $14 trillion and climbing, with long-term liabilities of about $100 trillion.

But what assets do we have? We have a few hundred billion dollars worth of gold, and a lot of real estate. The government also owns about 650 million acres of land, or 1/3 of the national territory (!)The Link

How much is that worth?

How far off are we from the time when our government is forced to start selling off its land to the highest bidder? I can imagine a day when the government might be forced to "sell" the Grand Canyon, for example. Not sell, per se, but sell the rights to operate/maintain it and collect user fees to a private, for-profit operator, in exchange for a fat upfront fee. Thoughts?

 

[Crockett]

The land is a substantial asset and should be considered for the balance sheet. Raw land in rural areas, particularly that with value for recreational purposes is selling for an awful lot. I grew up in Cooke County, about 60 miles north of the metroplex, and have seen vast changes in rural property values there. When I was a kid, the most valuable was the class 1 and Class 2 farmland where you could grow a lot of hay and grain. Now rough, timbered property with turkey and deer is the most valuable. I know New Mexico land, worth a max of $100 an acre for grazing purposes, going for 10 to 30 times that amount.

 

[general35]

I would say the mineral rights alone on government land is well into the trillions. there are proven untapped reserves of oil alone that are not part of the public books that are astronomical. I would say the total value of everything is pretty darn close to our total liabilities. The truth is though that the government has rights to all of the privately held land at all. If they can take the land for imminent domain to raise tax revenue, they can take it to sell if the need were to arise. we pay rent to the government in the form of property taxes even if your property is paid for free and clear. property ownership has been dead in this country for about 100 years.

 

[dheiman]

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[mcbrett]

Some things are sacred- our public lands in my opinion is one of them.

I don't care what we have to cancel or close, or what tax needs to be raised- if someone thinks permanently destroying a natural resource to resolve a temporary problem caused by hubris and stupidity is the right thing to do- tough, deal with the idea we made mistakes, and let's own up to them in the proper way without insulting future generations.