Analyzing The United States Government… As A Business

If the federal government was a corporation–a very big corporation–how would it stack up? Mary Meeker takes a stab at an answer. Befitting the size of her target, the analysis is hefty in its own right, weighing in at 266 pages. “This report looks at the federal government as if it were a business, with the goal of informing the debate about our nation’s financial situation and outlook,” writes Meeker, a partner at KPCB and former financial analyst at Morgan Stanley, in the newly released “USA Inc.” The report examines the government’s income statement and balance sheet and concludes: “By the standards of any public corporation, USA Inc.’s financials are discouraging.” If you need additional details, this PDF file won’t disappoint. If you prefer a bound copy of the dark details, you can find it here. Just don’t read it aloud in mixed company. The red ink could be especially disturbing for children, who will inherit this mess eventually.