Posted by Jim Lindgren: Two Ideas For Reducing the National Debt. http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_12_07-2008_12_13.shtml#1228979110
Under both Presidents Bush and Obama, we are generating and are likely to generate huge increases in our national debt. There are two steps that can be taken to reduce the negative impact of this excessive spending, the first of which is quite doable politically. 1. Refinance the federal debt with long-term bonds at low interest rates. Investors around the world are buying Treasury bonds, bills, and notes because they are safe, driving 10-year Treasury rates down to about 2.7% and 30-year rates to 3.1%. The government should immediately refinance as much of the federal debt as reasonably possible at current rates (3.1%) for 30 years. (If there are any recallable bonds, they should be recalled and reissued at these low rates.) This would in effect reduce the federal debt substantially. 2. Sell government land. The federal government owns massive portions of the country, including the majority of Western states. Like the NY Times or other troubled companies, the government should begin an orderly sale of unused or unneeded assets, in this case, land. _______________________________________________ Volokh mailing list [email protected] http://lists.powerblogs.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
