Wednesday.....Culture.....America's Balance Sheet

Today's Wall Street Journal reports that Northrup Grumman Corporation is moving its headquarters from California to Virginia. What's different here from normal corporate moves is that they are buying the property instead of leasing it, and therefore will list the cost as a liability rather than an expense. Proposed new rules of accounting, which would come into effect in 2013, would have companies listing leases on their balance sheets. Northrop says that it makes more sense to be located nearer their customers but it's more likely that California's taxes were part of the decision. Anyone who has traveled the beltway around Washington D. C. knows that the various corporate headquarters buildings stick out as bold advertisements, and Virginia and their banks offered incentives. It's a sign of the times in a flagging economy that corporations cut their liabilities. A balance sheet can be looked at as assets = liabilities + shareholder equity. Is there a way to construct a balance sheet on America itself, and if so, what would the bottom line look like? Our assets have always been our people, natural resources, industry, the heritage of a protestant work ethic, our entrepreneurism and determination, our military that defends all of these and adherence to a rule of law that kept us from chaos. Our freedom of speech and the press was a protection against tyranny and an American Creed  united us in every challenge and every difficulty that we faced. Education was one of our greatest assets and Christianity was our greatest. Our liabilities were few, the greatest being the long fight to end slavery and then the longer fight to end discrimination. We had little shareholder equity added to the liabilities. As we grew in power and prestige, our liabilities increased as we were called upon to defend our, and others, freedoms all over the world. Another liability that we proudly accept is the compassion in financial assistance that is needed all around the world, but our outlook was still good because of the strength of our people, a firm foundation in our Constitution, an American Creed recognized around the world and our firm reliance upon God.  Our balance sheet today bears little resemblance and the prognosis has been severely downgraded. The natural resources are still there but the industry, heritage, entrepreneurism and determination lay dormant beneath the surface. Our work ethic is still there but misdirected. Our military proves itself every day but is being weakened as weapons systems are in competition with bailout and  wasted stimulus monies. Our Constitution's power is being sapped from judicial activism and our laws are being overruled by the faux compassion of Progressivism. We have our freedom's of speech and of the press, for today anyway for they are under assault, but our press has failed the people, its calling and profession. Our Creed is still shared by half of the people, the other half opt for the creed of narcissism. The education of our youth has been forced to substitute self-esteem and a distorted form of toleration for learning, thinking and growing into maturity and responsibility. Our higher education has become a tool of intellectuals, and elites as some would say, who attempt to grab the young adults for indoctrination in their progressive ways. Our churches, on the whole, are weak. They are proficient at telling us we should not judge, but oblivious to Scriptures command to judge between what is right and what is wrong. It's sermons are all too often anecdotal, humorous, soothing and a very serious challenge to the advice given by Dear Abby, Oprah and Dr. Phil. We are given anointed teaching on how to live the victorious life but withheld from us is our being alive because of a victorious death. The cross is preached on Easter Sunday and then given a long rest. Our shareholders equity, added to the liabilities, is in the form of enormous debt owned by foreign investors. We are no longer self-sufficient. We are paying a lot of attention to the balance sheets of corporations but ignoring our own balance sheet as a nation and will collapse as fast as Lehman Brothers if we do judge ourselves and check our bottom line.