Posted on 09/15/2012 5:00:44 PM PDT by darth
I have posted before on the impending bankruptcy of America and how we can proactively deal with it.
I will not repeat the entire text here, but the main idea is that Congress should pass and Prez Romney should sign a bill declaring national Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Then have a Bankruptcy Judge cut all the sacred cow programs, lay off federal employees, etc. to get the federal budget back into surplus.
This morning I had an idea on how we can pay down the staggering $16 Trillion debt.
The Federal government owns half the land West of the Mississippi as well as vast offshore energy resources. Here is how we can sell off a large portion of that property and use the proceeds to pay down the federal debt.
1. Identify property that will be deeded to a huge real estate corporation to be owned by American taxpayers. This would include almost ALL BLM and a good chunk of the national forests as well as surplus military bases and federal buildings. Not to mention offshore mineral rights. That constitutes many trillions of dollars in value.
2. Let each TAXPAYER decide how much they want to pay in additional taxes over and above the normal percentages based on their income. They could choose anywhere from zero to 90%. This tax surcharge can ONLY be used to retire the federal debt.
3. Each taxpayer is issued shares in the RE corporation based on how much money they have paid in via the tax surcharge.
4. The RE is developed and/or sold off. The STOCKHOLDERS receive dividends from the sales based on how many shares they own.
I see several advantages:
1. Taxpayers would be EAGER to invest in the lucrative deal and would want to pay in as much as possible.
2. Foreign interests, illegal aliens, drug dealers, et al, would not be eligible to invest. Welfare recipients would have to get jobs to participate.
3. Older skilled workers would be happy to stay in the workforce rather than retiring on SS.
4. American-based corporations could participate and could begin the paydown by bringing home the $2 Trillion in profits from their offshore operations.
5. Foreign corporations and wealthy people would want to immigrate and become citizens.
6. The land and resources would be DEVELOPED. The mining, logging, and drilling alone would create massive growth in our economy. Just think of the roads, bridges, electrical infrastructure, etc. required.
7. The average voter would be motivated to WANT growth and natural resource development. The Western states would experience economic boom. Econazis will be very sad.
Can anybody improve on this idea?
I like it! When do we start?
Which is probably why it will never happen.
I think the potrential for insider trading is too great for most average Americans to take advantage profitably.
Before I'm attacked for that statement, I know less than nothing about stocks/trading, etc. ... except that faith in God is a more sure bet than the faith in a company.
Federal lands in Alaska alone is about 75 million acres.
These are great ideas Darth, and to expand a bit on who is or is not eligible to participate, there should be a provision that ANY shareholder that is found to have signed on to this Real Estate Corporation on the basis of fraud, false statements, use of laundered money, etc., (you get the idea) not only will be subject to criminal prosecution, they will lose ALL of the illicit invested funds they may have poured into the RE Corporation.
I guess I need to send a resume to Romney?
Seriously, our country cannot be totally bankrupt when we have VAST resources that the Greens prevent us from developing.
The Greens will fight with everything they’ve got, but we will win if we appeal to the voters:
“Do you want your SS check, Medicaid, and food stamps to be cut or do you want to develop Federal land? BTW, you can get rich off of this.”
There would be a huge incentive to get off SSI, welfare, etc. and get a job so you can pay taxes and get in on the gold rush.
The oppressed American Taxpayer would finally get what he deserves.
The way the national debt will be whacked down to size (it can’t and won’t be “paid off”) is for outright inflation or hidden inflation to weaken the dollar and make the debt appear, while not being less, than it is today. And, all that that implies for us with any savings of wealth, to see it wither on the vine. That has to be done all, however, with the deficit cut back first, and held at bay. Right now hidden inflation is working on our wealth; but high deficits mean there is no improvement on the debt. We will have explicit inflation soon... with or without reduction in the deficit.
Agreed, but they have to file a 1040 to participate.
Imagine if people tried to MAXIMIZE their taxable income.
The greenies would tie it up in court for 100 years.
You forgot the most important first step, STOP DEFICIT SPENDING!
How much do you figure we can get per acre for it (remember Supply and Demand)?
Multiply that by 75 million.
How big is that relative to $16 TRILLION?
That was in the first paragraph!
Go Chap. 11 BK and let the Judge eliminate 80% of the fedgov while raising SS age eligibility, etc.
We will have a hard time cutting one program at a time. Each interest group goes bonkers because they act like they are the only ones taking a hit.
Get the authority out of Congress. Let the BK Judge take decisive action.
BTW, this happened a few years back in Brazil. The legislature gave the authority to the Finance Minister and he took an axe to expenditures.
Not to mention, start to buy things made in America.
Repeating for effect:
Buy things made in America.
non-citizens can be taxpayers, so how do you exclude foreigners ? 1 non-citizen (Soros ?) could theoretically own most\all government land & mineral rights ?
um..and besides...oh never-mind.....bottom line ? no thanks /p
Say "Goodbye" to the DOD.
Good thinking outside the box, but no thanks.
And go to jail, lose the right to vote, etc.
There is no easy way out.
The only Treasury bonds that could be written off without causing intense hatred and anger towards the U.S. government - and, by extension, All of her Citizens - are bonds held by government agencies, the Federal Reserve and the largest U.S. -based banks/funds/etc.
“Selling” land for development will not work since it would amount to an artificial development project, not one driven by real demand. If a project was going to be driven by real demand it would already be happening.
Xanadu in NJ is one colossal failure project. Invariably, such schemes attract the worst of the worst “crony” businesses. Now, incredibly - it’s being Redeveloped ! A few years prior to “Xanadu”, when it was just “the Meadowlands”, I was at a “fair” they had, with rides and food, just like a country fair, but all on the paved parking lots surrounding the stadium and arena. That part of the state is the beginning of where it’s “too close to the city”. I wound up with my wife and stepson - running for our lives back to the car along with a stampeding crowd, when we started hearing gunfire. Just another nice day by “the city”.
China has massive whole cities “developed” that are complete ghost towns.
The only way... the eventuality IMHO, will be the bankrupting of some banks, turning the Fed’s roles over to the Treasury and some other new agency and declaring it “bankrupt”. It looks like trillions worth of Treasury bonds are already accumulating at the Fed; as an “investment portfolio” it simply can’t be unwound, because there would not be buyers for over 2 trillion in old bonds - and at the same time buyers for new ones that the government issues for cash in order to fund over 40% of it’s operations.
It’s the bond ponzi (bonzi). IMHO, it will not last much longer.
The big banks are using every bit of lobbying effort to keep the thing rolling; they keep buying new bonds as long as they can sell them soon after. They can use them as collateral to borrow cash from the Fed, they can sell them to the Fed. At some point, there will just be too much outstanding government debt. Bank of Am balance sheet is over $2 trillion, so is JPM. Wells Fargo is over $1 trillion; a lot of large banks around the world, and funds, own Treasuries, which were always assumed to be a “zero-risk” asset. But all these banks have a limit as to how much Treasury debt they can own and still produce enough profit to stay in business.
Meanwhile, every dollar invested in Treasuries is a dollar NOT invested in productive business.
So, if you think about it, there is $16 trillion tied up in this “government bond” scheme, where interest on the debt is paid out of tax revenue, but deficit spending ensures that as bonds mature - more need to be issued to redeem them, since the government only has a few months worth of cash on hand, if that (that’s the ponzi part).
The worst thing is the focus of government regulation: it’s all focused on promoting immorality, i.e., forcing business to promote all sorts of perversions, vices and special interests in order to avoid fines, lawuits and prosecution. None of these things help the business, they are all a burden. And even given that, businesses are still subjected to continual legal “shakedowns”. This is the reason why entrepreneurs seeking to build “real”, i.e., non-scam, businesses, have such an uphill struggle.
I’m with you, 100%, on that idea!
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