Don't fear; the US Military is here!

At a current events discussion group meeting in Santa Barbara last Fall, we discussed the significance of the US debt. Many participants argued that there would be grave consequences reaped upon our children as a result of the debt we are incurring today as a nation; and they expressed fear and hysterical dismay over our continuing to pile up the US deficit.

I encouraged them to direct their attention to the United State Military, which has always stood as a bulwark to protect the country's very existence ever since its founding. Remember, I told them, George Washington was a General!

Personally, I look at the debt situation in the US as a facet of the liabilities appearing on the US financial ledger, but I am reminded that this is only one of two main elements of its balance sheet. I am drawn also to consider the US assets. Now a country's liabilities are its financial obligations--what it owes to itself and to other countries. Its assets I take to be the value of all its properties, including its physical resources such as oil and gas; and its cash. Ascertaining the US assets and liabilities we might then determine the US financial worth.

The current discussion of America's financial picture focuses on the debt issue largely because it has recently ballooned. Certain economists, in an effort to counterbalance the recognized indebtedness of the US, allude to its GNP, the size of the US economy produced by its goods and services as the major indicator of US assets. There are certain problems in using the GNP for this purpose. Firstly, the GNP cannot reference, it seems to me, the value of the manifold properties in minerals, etc. nor estimate the value of goodwill other countries bestow upon the US in an international situation of  floating currency.  More importanly, the GNP can't contain financial information that might be construed as jeopardizing our international posture and security if made public. Now, the US Military with its tentacles in over 150 foreign countries, prima facie, can't disclose the value of US assets in these countries if already construed as top secret data. Nor could it disclose any financial transactions involving national security and our international military commitments which may be between these countries and the US.

It was rumored at one time that the CIA was actually a profit center for the US in some countries, particularly those in South America.  To me it is conceivable not only the CIA but the FBI with its offices worldwide, as well as the US Military are profit centers, servicing countries abroad.  I'm not aware of such cases, but if actually happening, any information about such financial dealings would no doubt be filtered before being placed in the public domain.

Be that as it may, the worth of the US states--specifically, whether and when the US might be a debtor nation--is not readily ascertainable, so long as the US maintains its position of leader among nations on the planet earth.  The US Military doesn't tell all, for one thing; nor may agencies having to do with national security.

At the conclusion of the session, one of the members summarized, "If we're not privy to all the relevant information, we may never estimate with a high degree of confidence, the US financial condition and its overall financial worth.  I raised my hand as a sign of agreement and blurted out,  "I'm afraid  you're right!"