Monday, May 27, 2013

The Government Owns Most of the Land in the Western US

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Back when our country was founded, government ownership of land was considered a bad thing.

When new lands became available west of the original 13 colonies in the 1800's, the Homestead Act was passed to provide an orderly transition to private ownership and development.  But somehow, during the first half of the 20th century, the government decided to transfer all remaining land to various agencies to hold in perpetuity.

Note that the Constitution does not grant the government the power to own land at all.

The magnitude of the problem is shown by this map.

Click image for larger version

I note that the Indian reservations are shown, but although they are officially government land, recent case law and other rulings have made them sovereign -- at least to an extent.

So why does the government own most of the land in the western states?  Why should they impoverish the western states (and not the eastern, mid-western, and southern states) by holding nearly all of their mineral and grazing rights?

No wonder land costs so much in the west and southwest where I want to retire.  The government owns nearly all of it west of the front range of the Rocky Mountains except for cities, strips along roads, and agricultural areas that were settled before the feds started grabbing.

They could sell it all off over the next 10 years, and easily pay off the national debt.
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Sunday, May 26, 2013

Busy Day at the Cruise Port on St. Maarten



Quite the lineup of ships, including one of the two largest cruise ships in the world at the St. Maarten cruise port on January 27th, 2011.
  • At the left back is the MSC Fantasia Poesia-- 137936 GT/3900 passengers
  • To its right is P&O Oceana -- 77499 GT/2272 passengers
  • At the left front is Aida Luna --  69203 GT/2100 passengers
  • To its right is the P&O Azura -- 115055 GT/3096 passengers
  • The huge one is Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas -- 225282 GT/6296 passengers
  • To its right is Celebrity Solstice -- 122000 GT/2850 passengers
 Click image for huge version.