Latest / The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
Why the Government Sells Public Assets at a Loss
Episode 123 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast dives into why the U.S. government routinely sells public assets—like land, buildings, and loan portfolios—for pennies on the dollar. Lucas and Luna examine the specific case of the Department of Energy's sale of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve's storage caverns in 2025, where a 50-year-old facility worth an estimated $800 million went for just $45 million. They trace the problem to a combination of Congressional budget rules, arcane accounting methods, and a perverse incentive structure where selling low makes the deficit look smaller in the…
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