# Why doesn't the Federal government just sell its assets? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2009, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772 "2009-02-07T01:51:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/1 "2009-02-07T01:51:02Z")
Ok, I am watching the stimulus debate on C-SPAN and a Senator stated that the stimulus bill before Congress will draw upon debt that the government will take decades to pay back. I don’t want to argue whether the statement is true but whether the federal government can lower its debt or raise capital buy selling its assets? For example, is it feasible to sell a territory to another country or sell half of the gold in Fort Knox? If it is possible, has the government ever done it, and why isn’t it a plausible solution in solving the fiscal crisis facing the nation? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/2 "2009-02-07T01:58:30Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > Ok, I am watching the stimulus debate on C-SPAN and a Senator stated that the stimulus bill before Congress will draw upon debt that the government will take decades to pay back. I don’t want to argue whether the statement is true but whether the federal government can lower its debt or raise capital buy selling its assets? For example, is it feasible to sell a territory to another country or sell half of the gold in Fort Knox? If it is possible, has the government ever done it, and why isn’t it a plausible solution in solving the fiscal crisis facing the nation? Someone who knows what they are talking about will turn up in a bit but I believe the answer to the Fort Knox question is that, as valuable as all that gold is, it pales in comparison to the US government’s debts. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/3 "2009-02-07T02:09:47Z")
I predict the best answers to follow will be the ones to expound on why not to sell the seed corn. ---
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/4 "2009-02-07T02:09:47Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Someone who knows what they are talking about will turn up in a bit but I believe the answer to the Fort Knox question is that, as valuable as all that gold is, it pales in comparison to the US government’s debts. Perhaps you can help me. How does the US government have debt exactly? I borrow from HSBC on credit. Who does the U.S government borrow from? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/5 "2009-02-07T02:12:48Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > Perhaps you can help me. How does the US government have debt exactly? I borrow from HSBC on credit. Who does the U.S government borrow from? From those who buy [Treasury securities](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasury_security). ETA: I think, I’m no expert! ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/6 "2009-02-07T02:15:41Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > For example, is it feasible to sell a territory to another country or sell half of the gold in Fort Knox? Please name some federal territory that can be sold to another country. Then I’ll go talk with the American citizens living there and inform them they have to move, and it was all your idea. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/7 "2009-02-07T02:18:32Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Please name some federal territory that can be sold to another country. Then I’ll go talk with the American citizens living there and inform them they have to move, and it was all your idea. They don’t have to move. They just have to accept that they ain’t Americans anymore 😉 Just like Russia did with Alaska. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/8 "2009-02-07T02:20:43Z")
The [United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox](http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/fun_facts/index.cfm?flash=no&action=fun_facts13) has about 147.3 million ounces of gold; at today’s price, that comes to a bit under $134.7 billion dollars, which is not chump change, but then again the latest headline is that the Senate is proposing to reduce the stimulus package from $900 billion to a mere $780 billion–which is entirely separate from the $700 billion already allocated for [TARP](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troubled_Assets_Relief_Program). The [annual U.S. federal budget for 2007](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._Federal_Spending_-_FY_2007.png) was over $2.7 _trillion_. As for selling off other assets: Countries have sold off bits of themselves ([sometimes at the point of a gun](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Cession), [sometimes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsden_Purchase) [not](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Purchase)), but such a move would be unimaginably unpopular. (Mexico’s sale of the Gadsden Purchase aroused a great deal of anger in Mexico–without even getting into the earlier, larger Mexican Cession, which was the result of a war–and pretty much ended the political career of Santa Anna.) I suppose we could also sell of federal assets to private investors, without ceding actual national sovereignty over the territory–Citibank Grand Canyon, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/9 "2009-02-07T02:21:15Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Please name some federal territory that can be sold to another country. Then I’ll go talk with the American citizens living there and inform them they have to move, and it was all your idea. [Palmyra Atoll](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmyra_Atoll), [Baker Island](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker_Island) et al. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/10 "2009-02-07T02:23:45Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > [Palmyra Atoll](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmyra_Atoll), [Baker Island](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker_Island) et al. 🙂 Yeah but we probably couldn’t get much more than chump change for those, relatively speaking. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/11 "2009-02-07T03:29:02Z")
Palmyra Atoll is an uninhabited island in the middle of the ocean. Baker Island is the same except worse (it doesn’t even have any trees on it). Who are you going to sell them to? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/12 "2009-02-07T03:35:36Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Palmyra Atoll is an uninhabited island in the middle of the ocean. Baker Island is the same except worse (it doesn’t even have any trees on it). Who are you going to sell them to? I know, I was just pointing out to Duckster in a not too serious fashion that the US has territories devoid of citizens. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/13 "2009-02-07T04:12:57Z")
> [@](#): > > The United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox has about 147.3 million ounces of gold; at today’s price, that comes to a bit under $134.7 billion dollars, which is not chump change Then too, if we were to sell off the Fort Knox gold, we’d have to be very careful about how we did it, since dumping all that gold onto the market at once would surely cause the price to plummet. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/14 "2009-02-07T04:17:45Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Then too, if we were to sell off the Fort Knox gold, we’d have to be very careful about how we did it, since dumping all that gold onto the market at once would surely cause the price to plummet. And then we’d buy an equal dollar amount to the amount of gold we just sold! Rinse, lather, repeat! ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/15 "2009-02-07T04:26:09Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I know, I was just pointing out to Duckster in a not too serious fashion that the US has territories devoid of citizens. > [@](#): > > The atoll has been manned by a group of scientists, Nature Conservancy staff and volunteers, and Fish & Wildlife representatives (totalling between four and 20 in all) for the last several years. **A series of improvements in 2004 consisted of new two-person bungalows and showers for the island’s inhabitants.** Water is collected from the roof of a concrete building not far from the main living area of the scientists. Communal buildings of the settlement on the north side of Cooper Island (the only one on the atoll) consist of a common cooking/dining building adjacent to the Atoll’s only dock and a kayak and scuba equipment storage building next to the launch ramp. Uninhabited? And if there is US territory devoid of inhabitants, why does that make the territory automatically open to surplus to be sold? ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/16 "2009-02-07T09:42:31Z")
Other countries seem to have done similar things. The Australian government used to own our national airline (Qantas) and our phone network (Telstra) 100 percent and both were “sold off” (privatised) in the 90’s. I don’t know if the revenue was specifically used to reduce our national debt, but it suspect it partially was. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/17 "2009-02-07T09:54:21Z")
ah ok, didn’t realise this, the Australian Commonwealth government paid off it’s national debt in 2006, this article claims that the Telstra sale was partially used to fund that. > **[Government to pay off national debt](https://www.theage.com.au/business/government-to-pay-off-national-debt-20060420-gdnec6.html)** I’ve also found a claim on the net that the Australian government sold land surrounding the Australian embassy in Tokyo at the height of the property boom there and used that to help pay off it’s debt as well, but I can’t find any confirmation of that. > **[Australia's national debt paid of by selling land around the Australian...](https://masterkill.livejournal.com/29240.html)** > > My Economist Business Miscellany (free small book that came with the Economist) claims that during the height of the Japanese property bubble in the 1980s, the Australian government paid off its national debt by selling "a small parcel of land around... anyone know if the tokyo land sale is true? ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/18 "2009-02-07T10:02:13Z")
I don’t think anyone will miss Wyoming. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/19 "2009-02-07T13:35:24Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Palmyra Atoll is an uninhabited island in the middle of the ocean. Baker Island is the same except worse (it doesn’t even have any trees on it). Who are you going to sell them to? Without looking at a map, I’d guess their largest value would be in defining territorial waters, especially if you are one of those countries that claim 200 miles. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772/20 "2009-02-07T13:45:57Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > Ok, I am watching the stimulus debate on C-SPAN and a Senator stated that the stimulus bill before Congress will draw upon debt that the government will take decades to pay back. I don’t want to argue whether the statement is true but whether the federal government can lower its debt or raise capital buy selling its assets? For example, is it feasible to sell a territory to another country or sell half of the gold in Fort Knox? If it is possible, has the government ever done it, and why isn’t it a plausible solution in solving the fiscal crisis facing the nation? I doubt the federal government has enough salable assets to make a difference. The scrap value of the statue of liberty can’t be that much now that the price of copper has come down. ☹ More seriously that is exactly what the federal government is doing-selling it’s assets. It’s most valuable asset is the ability to levy taxes indefinitely far into the future. No other entity can make that claim. So it is busy selling that very valuable asset at a furious pace. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-federal-government-just-sell-its-assets/484772.md?page=2)