We know we are heavily in debt, but sometimes we don’t realize the value of the assets we claim here in the US of A. There was an interesting special I watched on TV over the holidays that looked at the value of everything we “property”, including land, businesses, natural resources, the value of innovations, etc. It was narrated by Donald Trump, no less, so maybe we need a little leeway on the numbers.
Anyway, here are some breakdowns:
Natural resources, that is, minerals, oil, water and others, have an estimated market value of around $2.4 trillion.
If we look at the breath of our natural resources, it is substantial. After all, it’s a big country of over 3 and a half million square miles and if you factor in all the gold, silver, oil and other high priced commodities, and add in the water, which is Valuable in its own right, we have a treasure trove of value right under our feet that breaks down to about $6.9 million per square mile.
And since we also have access to the land on top, what about all the crops we grow? The United States is known as the breadbasket of the world and the central United States has more farmland than most nations in the world, though nothing compared to what it once was. Premium agriculture abounds in almost every state, including my home state of California. The Central Valley and other prime land is worth a lot of money to our state and if you add up all the cattle that graze and live on it, you get about $3.5 billion worth of land.
Even though real estate values have plummeted in recent years, we as a nation still have plenty. If we calculate all the houses and commercial buildings and malls and high-rise structures, we can put a $21 trillion price tag on that. A nice commission check if you sold it all, but that’s another conversation since much it is being sold to foreign investors.
To connect all this real estate, we need roads, rail lines, water lines, and dams. To connect them all, we have a high-end and very expensive power grid that adds up to a lot of money. Even the sewer lines in this nation are priced at $585 billion, so when you add all this up, what do you get? $31 billion dollars worth.
With over 300 million people in this nation, we have our fair share of smarts. The value of intellectual property and inventions was thrown into the mix and experts came up with a value of $237 billion dollars or about $67 million per square mile in this country. Maybe something of that value belongs to you?
We have, without a doubt, the largest military in the world and when you tabulate all the planes, ships, tanks and other tools of war it adds up to $1.2 trillion. Add the $237 hammers and $179 screwdrivers and it can be even more.
And here is a figure that I never thought of and that is the value of our bodies. You can’t sell it (no, you’re not going there), but all of our organs are worth a lot of money, from our eyes to our hearts and lungs and the most valuable per square inch: our bone marrow. The Six Million Dollar Man has been priced up by inflation and don’t ask how they came up with it, but experts value our bodies at $46 million each for a total of $14 quadrillion dollars nationwide.
OK, we’re done with assets, so now for the bad news: our national debt. Different people will give different answers, but to end this conversation, it was calculated at $15 billion. I’m not sure if that was done by Republicans, Democrats, accountants, or amateurs, so for what it’s worth, that means this nation is worth about $280 trillion.
Happy New Year and don’t spend it all in one place.
