[quote=davelj][quote=harvey][quote=davelj]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.[/quote]
I’d be curious to see any attempt to calculate the asset values of the US. It is much harder than calculating GDP, because has to measure natural resources – stuff that’s always been there and is unknown in quantity and ultimate value.
The key reason a balance sheet is important for corporate reporting is that shareholders actually buy a portion of the entity. There is no such notion in government or for the country as a whole. I just don’t see how useful this (very coarse) data would be.
I think it would be fun so see some of these numbers and estimate, but I would be very dubious about the utility of such data.[/quote]
I found this after searching for less than 60 seconds (yeah, it’s a few years old)… it ain’t that hard. We lack the will… (the comments section addresses some interesting issues as well.)
