Selling Federal Lands

[Hunting Wife]

regarding energy wouldn't both sides of the aisle be shooting themselves and their pocket liners in the foot by seeing public lands privatized? private leases and royalties for energy aren't much of a screaming a deal in comparison to those rock bottom public land rates, right?

you'd think both sides would see the long term investment opportunity in having ample cheap public land to drill and grade for solar.

Au contraire my friend. They would most certainly not sell the mineral rights. Keep the federal minerals, sell the surface. They’d make way more money that way. Extra sweet deal- two revenue streams from one parcel.

Plus the big donor puppet masters get a huge development opportunity too. What’s not to love?

Unfortunately we’ve lulled ourselves into a false sense of security by telling ourselves a line of feel good stories about why this will never happen. The D’s are a bunch of greenies that would never go for it. It’s too politically toxic in xyz state. Etc. But we now find ourselves in a very real situation where we’ve kicked the can down the road budgetarily for decades, both parties conceivably have reasons to justify it, and ultra-wealthy zealots use their unlimited amounts of “speech” to steamroll the wishes of the public. So here we are. I’m not happy about it, but it’s not like anyone paying attention couldn’t see it coming.

 

[Straight Arrow]

ultra-wealthy zealots use their unlimited amounts of “speech” to steamroll the wishes of the public.

Apt description. As prime example of "representation of the people", our Montana delegation is comprised of individuals who are NOT public land hunters, hikers, bird watchers, or bikers. 'More likely to sip umbrella drinks in Belize than backpack the Bob, hike to Granite Park Chalet, or bowhunt the Breaks.

 

[rogerthat]

The drum beat continues at the Wall Street Journal. Copied below for those not able to get behind the paywall. Merry Christmas from the Hoover Institute.

View attachment 354400

Holy misinformation but I guess if you just repeat it enough times than people believe it….garbage

 

[marksjeep]

Western state governors eye public lands for affordable housing development

 

[BrentD]

Votes dont exist in the house for that.

Yes, they do. In spades.

 

[BrentD]

Money, it always the money.

I used to believe that. But now I think $$ are 3rd on the list. Power and the desire to just "#*^@#* things up with the federal government" rank second and first, respectively.

 

[Nick87]

I used to believe that. But now I think $$ are 3rd on the list. Power and the desire to just "#*^@#* things up with the federal government" rank second and first, respectively.

Respectfully disagree. At least for 99% of them.

 

[BrentD]

Respectfully disagree. At least for 99% of them.

Who is "them"? Us?

 

[Nick87]

Who is "them"? Us?

Who is "us"

I'm talking about elected officials.

 

[BrentD]

Who is "us"

I'm talking about elected officials.

The elected officials respond to the "tear this .gov down" demand of their constituents. They have to to stay in powder. It is all about creating a train wreck, just like going to NASCAR to watch the crashes.

 

[Nick87]

The elected officials respond to the "tear this .gov down" demand of their constituents. They have to to stay in powder. It is all about creating a train wreck, just like going to NASCAR to watch the crashes.

Ok.

 

[SAJ-99]

Clark County NV rentals. Only 5300 to choose from.
Part of the scam is to convince people there is a "crisis" so they can sell these cheaply built units.

 

[Treeshark]

I wouldn’t really classify those options as lower-income/service worker availability though, and that seems to be the go-to line from the playbook (I’m sure they do exist, just not sure how many).

 

[Forkyfinder]

The single dumbest part about the political drivel about housing development with "sell the public land" is that it would make a dent in home prices.

It seems like the infrastructure install (power, water, sewer, road) to a vast majority of public land all make it economically unfeasible conpared fo city adjacent private land, even if the land were free at the scale that would relieve the "housing crisis"

 

[SAJ-99]

I wouldn’t really classify those options as lower-income/service worker availability though, and that seems to be the go-to line from the playbook (I’m sure they do exist, just not sure how many).

Why? Price? (I picked that number from the company buying public land and building that lower income, multi family. Maybe we should focus on getting lower income people higher incomes. That is the problem. Those with money want things done for them, but done cheap. Any argument around building more homes so that a person making $40k/yr can afford a rent of $700/mo is missing the point. What is clear is there is no housing “crisis”. Housing market has plenty of problems, but nothing is a crisis. Plenty of houses, rentals, etc. I left out the 1000 AirBNBs clark county.

 

[Treeshark]

Why? Price?

Yes.

 

[SAJ-99]

Yes.

Like I said, that wasn't my number. It was the builder's promo rate. I also tried to figure out if these were retirement buildings (one was) and if not, I checked the school ratings in the area out of curiosity. The results were about what I expected.

I don't recommend making any federal housing policy changes for the group of people that work and make less than $40k/yr. It won't turn out well. We are already seeing the GSEs (Fannie and Freddie) move to appraisals done by drone (if done at all) and LTVs increased from 80% to 97%. We seem to consistently fail in learning from past mistakes.

 

[Benfromalbuquerque]

The single dumbest part about the political drivel about housing development with "sell the public land" is that it would make a dent in home prices.

It seems like the infrastructure install (power, water, sewer, road) to a vast majority of public land all make it economically unfeasible conpared fo city adjacent private land, even if the land were free at the scale that would relieve the "housing crisis"

Federal Government Announces Answer to Housing Crisis! DOGE Council Approves Novel Concept Sheltering!

 

[ismith]

So ends my love of Thomas Sowell.

Oh, the end of such a beautiful love, the like the world has never known before…….