Greece Privatizing Islands

It seems to me that "private is better than public" is almost an irrefutable economic maxim. Think of all of the land that government that sits idle with resources untapped. Hernando DeSoto would call this "dead capital." Rich resources wasted by public ownership of land in the name of defense, conservation, commerce, etc. The reality is that the resources would put to much better uses, productive uses, in private hands. Alaska comes to mind of a vast government plot of land with resources untapped. As Ronald Reagan called it, "Our smallest state surrounded by our largest national park."

I thought of this maxim to day when I saw this article in the news. It seems that amid all of its economic troubles, the government of Greece is going to sell islands to attempt to alleviate its extensive economic problems. It is encouraging to see this process take place, and will be interesting to see how it unfolds.