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Source link: http://archive.mises.org/2476/base-closings-are-good-news/

Base Closings are Good News

September 13, 2004 by

It amazes me when Congressmen fight tooth and nail to prevent military base closings in their districts. There are usually much better uses for the land that bases occupy. Uses like, oh, say, private enterprise. In Denver, closed bases have become health care campuses, neighborhoods, and business parks.

{ 4 comments }

Andrew McManama-Smith September 13, 2004 at 2:53 pm

Yeah, ask the Seoulites or the Yokohama-ites if they want the bases closed or not! hahaha.
Sorry for the off-the-wall posts.

Steven Kane September 13, 2004 at 8:38 pm

While this is good news, I doubt it will even put a dent in the military welfare state.

Jardinero1 September 14, 2004 at 3:43 pm

The article is incomplete. It tells only about the gross economic impact of the redevelopment, not the net. What about the net? That’s what counts.
There is no shortage of available land in most communities that experience base closings. There is a significant economic impact when thousands of people vacate a community, throw their houses on the market at once, stop consuming local goods, and paying local sales tax. That’s why congressmen fight base closings.

Ken Gregg September 17, 2004 at 6:08 pm

Any base closing is cause for celebration. Here in Las Vegas, the growing population is pushing the Nellis AFB out and much of the installation will eventually have to move out.
This is a significant issue here due to the large amount of land under control by the Feds (approx. 90%!). Several of the weapons testing areas are relatively close to the population, however, and to bring them back into the marketplace will likely require a major cleanup of live artillery, areas poisoned by bombing runs, and search for anything dangerous left over. Considering the liability potential for this land (and the nuclear test site), it would be very costly for the military to release this land.
There is a large demand for housing here and property values have increased at a greater rate than at other parts of the country. It’s only inevitable that the market will push out the military.
It’s only a question as to how the military will respond.
Ken Gregg
kgregglv@cox.net
http://classicalliberalism.blogspot.com/

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