Heh... another bold idea is to use choppers and automatic weapons to hunt down all the caribou and other wildlife along the north slope in Alaska, then get rid of all the reserves and preserves, and drill the whole thing for oil.
One bold idea that I thought had merit was for the United States to buy Siberia from Russia for a $trillion. Now that Siberia's melting, it could be a nice place to live and let that housing bubble keep growing... ;-)