Question

Some would argue that the United States should privatize all federal lands in the Western U.S. For example, 66.5% of Utah is federal land. They have 13 national parks, which received over 9 million visitors in 2012. Should we privatize all of the public lands in Utah?

Answer 1

Federal Lands constitute that part of the land of a country which is directly controlled by the government and private players cannot purchase the same.

These are managed in greater public interest and include parks, roadways, and railways etc. which largely impact public services. In my opinion, it is important that the government seeks control of federal lands, so as to ensure that public interests are met.

Privatization is a temporary form of increasing the flow of capital in a country and is often not represented of effective management.

Private players often are interested in self gains and therefore are not bothered by economic and social conditions. The government on the other hand has large reserves of capital, and takes a long term view of economic and social problems while making decisions upon how Federal Lands need to be used. This is in sync with environmental conditions also.

Considering how vulnerable an area Utah is both ecologically and socially giving them over to private players would mean misuse of natural resources for private gains which is not recommended.

At this stage, the United States is an economy with surplus capital and does not require disinvestment to manage resources. Social order and other considerations are also important hence privatization should not be encouraged respectively.

Please feel free to ask your doubts in the comments section