Trump wants to sell assets to lower $20 Trillion debt

[davew]

He wants to sell some assets to lower debt. Much of it would be mineral and oil rights.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trumps-intriguing-idea-cut-debt-by-selling-off-federal-assets-2017-03-28?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo

[Parkview_Pirate]

He wants to sell some assets to lower debt. Much of it would be mineral and oil rights.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trumps-intriguing-idea-cut-debt-by-selling-off-federal-assets-2017-03-28?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo

The 10.4 billion barrels of oil and 8.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
The 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the outer continental shelf of the lower 48 states
The 896 million barrels of oil and 53 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Naval Petroleum Reserve-Alaska
The 25 billion barrels of oil in the outer continental shelf of Alaska
The 90 billion barrels of oil and 1,669 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the geologic provinces north of the Arctic circle
The 982 billion barrels of oil shale in the Green River Formation in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.

These technically recoverable resources total 1,194 billion barrels of oil and 2,150 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that is owned by the federal taxpayer. At $100.00 per barrel of oil and $4.00 per thousand cubic feet of natural gas, the oil resources are worth $119.4 trillion and the natural gas resources are worth $8.6 trillion for a grand total of $128 trillion, or about 8 times the U.S. national debt.[iii]

$100 per barrel of oil? Over twice today's going rate?

Even at $100 per barrel, the kerogen of the Green River Formation (82% of reserves mentioned here) is not economically viable to extract.

These calculations seem ambitious - perhaps brought to us by the same folks who assure us that Social Security is viable.

Today the U.S. burns through approximately 19.5 million barrels of oil per day, which 9.5 million is imported. The demand will be there for years to come, as the pain of weaning off fossil fuels is too much right now, so the idea of selling of mineral rights to pay down the debt has some merit, but I'm not sure these numbers are an accurate picture of the benefits.

And then there would be the political opposition - let's not forget to toss the cost of numerous environmental studies and court costs on top of all this....

[Actor]

Let’s focus on a giant part of this: Mineral rights for oil and gas reserves. The IER report said they’re worth $128 trillion.With that kind of collateral we can borrow even more! :coffee:

[barahona44]

With that kind of collateral we can borrow even more! :coffee:

:D Hey, don't give Congress any ideas!

[classhandicapper]

I think this is a good idea in theory. If he can find some marketable assets and get congress to agree, go for it.

[chadk66]

$100 per barrel of oil? Over twice today's going rate?

Even at $100 per barrel, the kerogen of the Green River Formation (82% of reserves mentioned here) is not economically viable to extract.

These calculations seem ambitious - perhaps brought to us by the same folks who assure us that Social Security is viable.

Today the U.S. burns through approximately 19.5 million barrels of oil per day, which 9.5 million is imported. The demand will be there for years to come, as the pain of weaning off fossil fuels is too much right now, so the idea of selling of mineral rights to pay down the debt has some merit, but I'm not sure these numbers are an accurate picture of the benefits.

And then there would be the political opposition - let's not forget to toss the cost of numerous environmental studies and court costs on top of all this....nearly every estimate that the U.S. geological survey puts out ends up being blown out of the water when reality comes to fruition. Those numbers are probably very conservative. Extraction methods change/improve constantly in this industry. We will be exploring in ANWR very soon.

[Tom]

I think this is a good idea in theory. If he can find some marketable assets and get congress to agree, go for it.

California, NY - buy one, get one free.

All sales FINAL!

[Lemon Drop Husker]

Not that I don't believe the article, but if the problem is Baby Boomers, then why don't we eliminate the problem?:coffee:

They have lived off the greatest generation of all time, and then raised the worst generation of all time behind them. What the heck good are they anymore?:popcorn:

[Tom]

You can look at the miserable crop of Millennials and find fault with the boomers?? A 60 year old is as good as three 20 year olds.

[Lemon Drop Husker]

You can look at the miserable crop of Millennials and find fault with the boomers??

It isn't like they are a horse, and "pumped" and left. Or a Mare and watched the foal for a few months.

They actually raised these people. For 18 to 35 years. :pound:

Who else are we to blame?

Chuck Schumer?

[Tom]

Not our fault - the government said we couldn't beat them.
I always thought twice about the belt before I did crap.

[Steve 'StatMan']

Not that I don't believe the article, but if the problem is Baby Boomers, then why don't we eliminate the problem?:coffee:

They have lived off the greatest generation of all time, and then raised the worst generation of all time behind them. What the heck good are they anymore?:popcorn:

I know a few of us Boomers that never had kids, and we didn't go around agreeing with the crappy ways that society and social expectations changed.

[Inner Dirt]

Not our fault - the government said we couldn't beat them.
I always thought twice about the belt before I did crap.

I was way more afraid of being caught by my dad than the police when I was a kid.

[Elliott Sidewater]

Trump's concept of asset sales; "I bought Park Place for $350 when I was a kid, and I improved the lot several times so how much could I sell it for now?"

If he was alive, Milton Bradley would have been appointed our Chief Economist.

[davew]

Trump's concept of asset sales; "I bought Park Place for $350 when I was a kid, and I improved the lot several times so how much could I sell it for now?"

If he was alive, Milton Bradley would have been appointed our Chief Economist.

Would he do something about the people who pass go on every turn - here's your $200?

[chadk66]

I personally don't think that governments, be is state or federal, should even own mineral rights. Selling these minerals would be a wonderful way of ridding this country of our debt. Then allow the exploration of these minerals and allow all that money to enter the economy. When they start drilling in ANWR Alaska is going to explode again. In ND, we have one section in each township set aside as "school lands". This land is owned by the state school lands trust. All revenues from these sections, be it rental income or mineral income, enters this trust. Then a portion of the trust money is used to fund education. However, politicians claim this money can't be used to build schools. But it doesn't say that in the constitution. The politicians have convinced the citizens over the years that this is the fact. It's clearly not. I believe this trust fund has a couple billion dollars in it and growing daily due to all the oil activity in western ND. There is something like 130 school districts in the state. They could build a new school for every district and still have lots of cash left in their trust and it would continue to grow at a rapid pace. Instead, the politicians force the districts to raise property taxes to build new schools. And we are already one of the highest property tax rates per $1000 of valuation in the nation. It's absurd.

[Fager Fan]

Not that I don't believe the article, but if the problem is Baby Boomers, then why don't we eliminate the problem?:coffee:

They have lived off the greatest generation of all time, and then raised the worst generation of all time behind them. What the heck good are they anymore?:popcorn:

You're off by a generation. They raised Gen X who in turn raised Millenials, who are the most worthless generation of all time.

[chadk66]

You're off by a generation. They raised Gen X who in turn raised Millenials, who are the most worthless generation of all time.man that is the truth. you wouldn't believe the number of Millenials that came struttin on up here to the oil patch and were gonna make the big bucks. None of them lasted a week .:pound: And I've never seen a generation so absent of common sense. It's mind boggling how bad it is. These individuals couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper sack.

[Tom]

Would he do something about the people who pass go on every turn - here's your $200?

Now that's funny!:pound: