Posted on 04/03/2016 2:28:33 PM PDT by drewh
As president, Donald Trump would sell off $16 trillion worth of U.S. government assets in order to fulfill his pledge to eliminate the national debt in eight years, senior adviser with the campaign Barry Bennett said.
"The United States government owns more real estate than anybody else, more land than anybody else, more energy than anybody else," Bennett told Chris Jansing Sunday on MSNBC. "We can get rid of government buildings we're not using, we can extract the energy from government lands, we can do all kinds of things to extract value from the assets that we hold."
In a wide-ranging interview with The Washington Post, Trump said he would get rid of the $19 trillion national debt "over a period of eight years." The article noted that most economists would consider Trump's proposal impossible, as it could require slashing the annual federal budget by more than half.
However, when pressed on whether the United States could sell off $16 trillion worth of assets, Bennett responded affirmatively on Sunday.
"Oh, my goodness," he said. "Do you know how much land we have? You know how much oil is off shore? And in government lands? Easily."
The federal government's assets totaled $3.2 trillion as of September 2015, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. However, that does not include include stewardship assets or natural resources.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
I am still trying to figure out why a declining America is still giving away hundreds of billions in foreign aid to all these countries.
It’s total bull sh*t.
I look forward to stopping every 1/2 mile on the Interstate to pay Qatar or U.A .E. $1.50...
It’ll be aYUGE success.
I’m not a Trump guy, but I like this idea. Why does the federal government own half the land out west? Why are we not exploring and developing the offshore oil? Makes no sense.
more of Trump's genius. He raises them so high, he then forecloses them out - OR - he declares imminent domain on the same lands, pays ten cents on the dollar for them. And the debt is paid off AND we have the land back.
“It’s brilliant, simple and so blatantly obvious you have to wonder why no one has ever thought of it before? “
I know. That’s why we need a businessman. A successful businessman. They are much smarter about reality-based solutions than politicians.
Hey VTenigma, the government doesn't OWE anything, the people do.
At $21 trillion, your share is about $66,000. If you're married, your spouse's share is another $66,000. How many children? $66,000 for each of them.
Grandchildren? You guessed it!
You can pay up now, or accept the validity of Trump's idea.
Where do you get off assuming anything about us?
Show me where one person said Trump would do this without Congress.
Folks - - - this idea has been proposed before. MANY times by many politicians. It is not new outside the box thinking.
Great deals, cut spending, cut regs, cut government, cut taxes, get foreign countries to pay for defense and other services, drill baby drill, improve economy, put people back to work. It all adds up.
Trumps plan blows all those ‘in the box’ thinkers, and FR posters, right out of the water.
Thank goodness Cruz isn’t in the race to deny Trump the nomination and give the Presidency to Hillary.
Thank God for ‘The Face of God’ patriotism.
I believe it was actually the Clinton administration that came up with a list of property that was suitable for sale, and McCain among other Western legislatures then sponsored legislation to try and get it sold. But that was less than 1% of all government land assets. We need someone that will think about this on a much greater scale.
“This is the Same TRump that just a couple of weeks ago suggested the fed should not turn control of federal lands over to the state they are in because they might not do the right things with them?”
He was probably thinking all along they can be sold. States can buy them - but only the states that have the money. ie., Republican-controlled states.
He’s not saying sell Yellowstone or any of the national parks.
We’re in agreement here. Glad to know it.
I love all these ideas.
Lets set up several hundreds double wides on the plains of Kansas. After eliminating about 1/2 million do nothing beaurcrat positions in D.C., we can send whats left to government trailer town in Kansas. They can perform their bureaucratic keyboard duties at that venue. Sell those high end opulent buildings in D.C. to real companies who actually produce and or provide needed services.
plus put welfare queens, etc to work and limit the amount of bennies, no cash, no credit cards, no ERs on demand no free after school babysitting for women who aren’t working...theres plenty of roads etc that need mending..
The illegal aliens will all be gone deported so theres a savings there, no schooling for illegal aliens children, no American citizenship for children of illegal aliens..
theres lots of ways to recoup the funds...
no paying for school teachers who don’t teach...fire those who have students graduating who cant read and write..don’t graduate the students..
cut bennies off at 16 for dependents of welfare queens or younger if the kid drops out of school...don’t give welfare aid bennies to unmarried mothers...if the kid drops out he or she works regardless of age ...14/15 they can work..
bring back government workhouses...the girls and women can sew clothes etc in factories to pay for their bennies..pay for single good pieces of work..
Every time a welfare queen applies for welfare or food stamps require a home visit to list all TVs techie stuff etc that can be sold...they can have a home phone but no expensive cellphones..no computers etc..if they can afford a cell phone, computer, internet they can afford to feed their families themselves..check the car..if they have an expensive car they can afford to feed their family..
If they have trashed public housing throw they out the 1st time...they can live in that expensive car...
Don’t sell an acre of land until the annual federal budget is balanced, or huge progress has been made toward that. When you can’t meet current obligation and you start selling off assets, that is known as liquidation.
And I think it would be a good idea to send China a bill for a trillion or two for copyright violations, patent violations, product counterfeiting, violation of trade agreements, etc.
Selling an asset from one government agency to another doesn’t save money.
Also, Trump hopefully doesn’t mean sell anything to foreign countries, other than the oil we product from federal lands.
Part of the Alinsky plan to destroy the country.
Seems Trump is the only one with a solution to stop it in its tracks. That’s why the GOPe, MSM, and Dems are panicking to stop him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.