According to the Cato Institute, the government owns An amazing 306, 000 buildings. The Government has estimated that the replacement value in 2007 for their buildings was $1.5 trillion. Its estimated that 77,000 buildings are not even needed. The Cato Institute wants to sell those buildings to the private sector but what if the Federal government just gave away the buildings in a giant Homestead Rush, allowing people to own shares of the buildings? Like the Oklahoma Land Rush, people could compete for the land shares.
Many people rely on government handouts for their sustenance but if people were allowed to own a piece of properties owned by the government, it would allow many people to be independent of government and free up much of the money that goes to the poor. One trillion dollars worth of property assets could go along way to getting people out of government dependance.
Republican President Benjamin Harrison signed the Oklahoma Land Rush Act into law in 1889 and allowed him to open two million acres for settlement.
If the federal government decided to free the buildings, perhaps they can free their pocketbook too.
By Glen Eric Larson
