Governments around the world have privatized $160 billion worth of assets over the past five years, according to Privatization 1989, published by the Reason Foundation. The U.S., described as “ virtually alone in having no serious national commitment to privatization,” accounted for only $7.2 billion of the total—$1.6 billion from the 1987 sale of Conrail, the rest from the sale of agricultural, veteran, and student loans.
The potential in this country is great, however. While we don’t have the national monopolies in steel, airplanes, and communications that have fueled privatization in Europe and Japan, we do have land. More than one-third of the nation’s land area is owned by the Federal Government. Much of it is leased for commercial use at rates far below the cost of managing the land. Privatizing the 375 million acres of timberland and grazing land managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management could yield $160 billion over a ten-year period, according to Reason’s calculations. The Bush budget highlights some less well-known privatization possibilities, including:
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