Privatizing Federal Spending: A Strategy to Eliminate the Deficit

Abstract

The author presents a logical strategy for reducing federal spending by fostering attractive and feasible private-sector alternatives for those who currently depend on federally sponsored programs. Dr. Butler proposes a series of practical measures for managing national assets more economically, and hence reducing deficits, while still achieving public purposes. Among his recommendations are: Selling public housing to those who now rent; selling, or even donating, federal wilderness lands to qualified environmental groups like Sierra Club and Wilderness Society; turning over postal service and other subsidized systems such as Amtrak to private sector, eliminating huge tax burden of operating these highly unprofitable services and improving efficiency virtually overnight; and essence of privatizing is notion of investing true ownership of an asset in a group of people other than the nation. This group, in turn, has an incentive to manage asset more economically. As a result public purposes are achieved at a lower cost to government--and thus to taxpayer.

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