What Do American Indians Deserve: Name Changes or Policy Changes? | Cato Institute

What Do American Indians Deserve: Name Changes or Policy Changes? | Cato Institute: "Only about five percent of land on Indian reservations is fee simple [individually owned]. The great majority of land is trust land, which can be difficult to develop and use productively. Trust land generally cannot be leased, mortgaged, or transferred without approval by the BIA. And the land cannot be easily used as loan collateral for an entrepreneur who wants to raise funds for investment.

Economist Terry Anderson, an expert on tribal economies, has noted that when you drive through reservations and “you see 160 acres overgrazed and a house unfit for occupancy, you can be sure the title to the land is held by the federal government bureaucracy. In contrast, when you see irrigated land in cultivations with farm implements, a barn and a well-kept house, you can be sure the land is held fee simple.”"