Quote:
Originally Posted by finnbow
The valuation of assets is highly suspect. The value of 620 million acres of federal lands, offshore mineral rights and the electromagnetic spectrum alone greatly exceed this number. Add to that the improvements (and other assets) upon this land and the intellectual property rights of DOD, DOE, NIH and others and this number becomes even more unrealistic.
This illustrates how using conventional economic analysis often fails when talking about the federal government.
|
Of course the gov't financial data is suspect. Getting away with paying interest only on debt that goes back decades is suspect. There's a recurring annual entry with a figure of billions of dollars that supposedly represents disagreements between agencies regarding funds disbursed versus funds spent. No CPA would certify a financial statement like this.
But, it's all we have to work with since the US gov't doesn't think it needs to be terribly transparent about the comings and goings of money from the Treasury.
One thing, however, is not in dispute: both the debt and the revenue numbers go up every single year.