[quote=harvey][quote=davelj]
One of my issues with the reporting of GDP is that it’s only an income statement number. It should be reported alongside a balance sheet as well.[/quote]

Good idea, but the accounting for the government balance sheet would be difficult at best, especially when determining the value of assets.

Some examples of basic, but very difficult, accounting issues that would make a useful government balance sheet (using GAAP) almost impossible:

– What to we put down for the dollar value of all of the federally-owned land?

– Do we reduce the value of the land when we log or mine on that land? By how much?

– Many, many more, big accounting questions…

There is certainly room for improvement when measuring the financial health of our government, but using a traditional financial accounting balance sheet probably wouldn’t be very useful.[/quote]

Actually, I’m talking about a balance sheet for the whole US, not just the government (as the government is just one part of the economy). We have a good estimate of all debt (government, consumer, and nonfinancial), although the Fed’s figures lazily include the double-counting of securitized debt. And we have a pretty good idea of the aggregate asset values… it’s not that difficult to do. The government just chooses not to compile and publish the data.

If the PTB can estimate GDP growth then they can sure as hell estimate a balance sheet. They choose not to. And that’s a problem.