Donald Trump's Unusual Plan to Lower the National Debt: Sell Off 19 Trillion In Government Assets

NBC News ^ | 4 hours ago | by ANNE THOMPSON and CHRISTINA COLEBURN

[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.

[napscoordinator]

I like that plan a lot. Heck why not. The mountain states sold their water rights so it can be done.

[petercooper]

It’s not so crazy an idea.

[drewh]

best GOP candidate EVER!

[bobo1]

What a profound idea! Let’s sell all our surplus buildings and land to China.

[VTenigma]

Hey, Trump. The government doesn’t own anything. We the people do. The guy needs to pick up a constitution.

[Hugin]

Why we need a non-politician who can think outside the box.

[drewh]

I bet China or the Saudis would find a way to get oil out of the Artic Wildlife Refuge!

[Mechanicos]

Better yet bill the countries we subsidize for services rendered.

[CrazyIvan]

Sell the UN building to the highest bidder. The new owners can evict the squatters.

[Hugin]

If you own it, can you sell your share? If you can’t you don’t own it.

[DoughtyOne]

Does anyone have any idea how much revenue would be generated by putting 40 million plus people back to work?

That would generate close to $0.9 trillion dollars yearly all by itself.

Cut departments, Cut welfare. Start making people pull their own way. I think folks would be surprised how fast we could get to $2 trillion dollars yearly.

Look, if he only lowers it $10 trillion in eight years, we wind up with $10-13 trillion in debt, and continue on for another eight years.

Folks, at least the guy is talking in terms that we have been. Good for him. And frankly, good for us.

Good for the nation!

[bluejean]

Sounds good to me. Great tagline by the way.

[JennysCool]

Yeah, but the government THINKS it does. That’s the point.

[drewh]

If Trump wins the Obama phone folks are gonna be shell shocked! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpAOwJvTOio

[freedomjusticeruleoflaw]

Trump has the right idea, but if it doesn’t include a balanced budget amendment it will be a temporary fix at best.

[builder]

Putin would love to buy Florida.

[ontap]

Only problem is if we did that the government would just go on another vote buying spending spree. Closing down bureaucracies and firing gov. employees is what is needed!!

[Chgogal]

At least he is thinking outside the Professional Sellout Lawyer Politicians Box.

[DoughtyOne]

Damn straight.

Many of them are up to no good with those phones too.

Put a stop to that on day one.

Want a phone, get a job.