When people talk about America’s $37 trillion national debt, they rarely mention the other side of the ledger — the asset side,

Every business and every household keeps a balance sheet showing both assets and liabilities, and if we apply that same logic to the United States, we find that our nation’s assets vastly outweigh its debt.

To start this discussion, there are government agencies such as The Bureau of Fiscal Service that actually apply values to limited and various assets of the United States. ^[i]

When we total America’s tangible and intangible wealth — from land and resources to infrastructure, intellectual property, and innovation — the picture changes dramatically. The United States commands roughly $250 to $300 trillion in total assets, making it by far the richest and most resource-diverse country on Earth.

The Real Problem: The Cost of Money and the Democrat Federal Reserve

The real threat to our fiscal stability isn’t the existence of debt itself — it’s the cost of borrowing. Under current leadership, a Democrat-controlled Federal Reserve has imposed interest rates that are roughly twice what other advanced nations pay on sovereign debt.

This policy choice has cost American taxpayers an extra one trillion dollars in unnecessary interest this year alone.

In comparison, major economies like Japan, Germany, and Switzerland finance their national debt at less than half the rate the U.S. now pays. The difference represents a massive, self-inflicted expense that benefits global bondholders and financial institutions rather than American citizens.

High interest rates have become a hidden tax, draining public resources that could otherwise go toward infrastructure, education, or security.

“An extra trillion dollars in interest isn’t fiscal discipline — it’s the price of political mismanagement.”

America’s True Balance Sheet Could Be $300 Trillion or More

Viewed as a whole, America’s assets tell a story of abundance. Our land and real estate holdings — public, private, and commercial — easily exceed one hundred trillion dollars in value.

Natural resources, including oil, gas, minerals, and timber, add another fifty trillion or more.

The oceans and continental shelf, with their fisheries and energy reserves, contribute twenty trillion in potential wealth, while infrastructure — from highways to power grids — is worth roughly twenty-five trillion.

As a note, the USA has expanded its extended continental shelf rights to one million square kilometers which is three times bigger than Germany. ^{[ii] [iii]}

On top of that, intellectual property and digital assets — patents, copyrights, brands, and data — are valued around forty trillion, and our airspace, communications spectrum, and orbital rights add at least another $10 trillion.

Finally, water rights, environmental resources, and carbon credits may represent fifteen trillion or more in potential market value.

Altogether, these figures reveal that the United States is not a debtor nation but a global wealth engine with roughly three hundred trillion dollars in gross assets — a balance sheet stronger than any nation in history especially considering its taxpayer base and assets of $60 trillion in private shareholder wealth and 4.9 trillion in revenue in 2024. ^{[iv] [v]}

The Federal Reserve Board’s Financial Accounts of the United States (Z.1) show that households and nonprofits had a net worth (assets minus liabilities) of roughly $169 trillion in the first quarter of 2025. ^[vi]

Unlike some nations that anchor their money supply to commodities or tangible reserves, the United States national debt is not collateralized by any asset , and the U.S. dollar is not backed by gold, silver, or land.

Our modern currency is purely fiat—its value rests on public confidence and the productive power of the American people.

Yet smart leadership could change that dynamic almost overnight. The U.S. government currently holds more than one trillion dollars in gold reserves , which could be formally recognized on the federal balance sheet as a tangible counterweight to liabilities.

Such an action would immediately strengthen national credibility, stabilize the dollar, and demonstrate that America’s obligations are anchored in real assets rather than promises.

The federal government’s “Net Property, Plant & Equipment (PP&E)” — which includes buildings, structures, equipment, internal-use software, general-purpose land, etc. — is reported at another $1.3 trillion as of September 30, 2024. ^[vii]

At the same time, policymakers must recognize that uncontrolled immigration without lawful visas carries a measurable economic consequence.

When an individual crosses the border illegally and gains access to public resources without contribution, every lawful citizen effectively loses a proportional share of national wealth. With roughly $250 trillion in total U.S. assets divided among about 340 million citizens, each American’s implicit ownership share equals nearly $735,000 per person.

Thus, every unvetted entrant effectively dilutes that collective equity and increases fiscal strain on public systems, social services, and long-term asset distribution. ^[viii] Moreover, every new addition from outside of the USA costs between one and two million dollars if they are unable to contribute to society. ^[ix]

The Citizen Shareholder

After the Civil War, the slogan was, “Forty Acres and a Mule” for all of the citizens; however, the Democrats in the USA refused to allow it and never allowed the citizens to have it. Today, we are in a new paradigm, and every citizen has a vested interest in the assets of this nation.

The question is whether the USA has ever valued all of its assets that are claimed and allow the citizens to feel endowed with this inheritance?  As for minorities and the feeling of being vested in the USA, the reason that the “No Kings” protest was more like a “No Blacks March” is that minorities in the USA now realize that the white democrats have sold them out, allowed 20 million new people to come in and take their jobs and services.

Further, the “No Kings White People” have never given minorities a real piece of the action, and minorities  are now seeing that Trump and populists will do better things for them than the white liberal will.

This is exactly why Trump won the Asian, Hispanic, Arab, and Native American votes in 2024.  The “No Kings” protest appeared to be a last ditch effort of white socialists to stay relevant and to keep the 1960’s leftist-whites on top of the democrat political food-chain.

Unlocking Value Through Blockchain

In my earlier essay, A Bold Vision to Erase the National Debt Using Blockchain, I proposed a forward-thinking model for unlocking America’s dormant value: tokenization. Using blockchain technology, the government could issue digital tokens backed by specific national assets.

For example, a Communications Frequencies Token could represent America’s electromagnetic spectrum — the invisible resource that powers 5G, Wi-Fi, and future data infrastructure.

Likewise, tokens could represent offshore energy rights ( OffshoreToken), national park tourism and sustainability ( ParkToken), carbon credit systems ( CarbonToken), or continental shelf resource rights (ShelfToken).

Each token would be a tradable, transparent representation of a real-world asset, providing liquidity, investment opportunities, and even a mechanism to pay down national debt. Tokenization, if managed responsibly, could generate trillions while democratizing ownership of the nation’s wealth.

Asset Growth vs. Debt Growth and the Future of Shareholders

Even without blockchain innovation, America’s long-term fundamentals remain positive. The nation’s asset base is growing by an estimated 7–8% annually, while its debt expands at roughly 5–6%. That means that, over time, the value of what America owns is increasing faster than what it owes.

Rising prices for land, water, gold, silver, and even airspace leases show that the underlying real value of the United States continues to compound.

As long as this growth trajectory continues — and policymakers avoid unnecessary fiscal sabotage through extreme interest policies — America’s balance sheet will remain not only solvent but stronger year after year. ^[x]

To put the numbers in perspective, the roughly 10 million new arrivals who have entered the United States under Biden represent an unprecedented transfer of economic entitlement.

If each American’s notional share of national assets is about $735,000, then allowing ten million individuals to enter and partake in those collective benefits is the equivalent of giving away more than $7.3 trillion in national wealth that belonged to hard working Americans, women and minorities.

This vast dilution of citizen equity reflects a fundamental mismanagement of America’s balance sheet — one that diminishes the per-capita wealth of every lawful resident while adding long-term fiscal burdens in housing, education, healthcare, and public infrastructure.

If American citizens were ever granted individual shares of the U.S. balance sheet , public attitudes toward illegal immigration would change overnight. Every worker, senior, mother, and young adult would see themselves as a shareholder in the nation’s $250–300 trillion of collective wealth.

With that ownership mindset, it would become clear that those who cross the border illegally are not simply entering a country—they are diluting the rightful stake of every lawful citizen, especially the poor, women, and minorities who depend most on fair access to national resources and public programs.

Recognizing citizens as true economic stakeholders would unite the nation around protecting its wealth, enforcing its laws, and ensuring that prosperity is earned, not taken.

Conclusion: America’s Net Worth and Future Vision

The “Balance Sheet of America” reveals that our national conversation about debt is one-sided. With over $250 trillion in tangible and intangible wealth , the United States possesses the resources to cover its liabilities many times over. Citizens hold about another $170 trillion in assets. ^[xi]

As of 2024, U.S. nominal GDP was about $28 trillion per year — meaning the entire economy produced roughly that much value in income and output. ^[xii] The key challenge is management — ensuring that interest costs, inflation, and overspending don’t erode the asset advantage that defines our nation.

To put things into perspective, when measured by land per family rather than per person, Russia remains the wealthiest in territorial terms, with an estimated 75 acres per household—reflecting its vast land and sparse population.

American families follow with about 16 acres each, still a considerable share of space and resources. In contrast, Nigerians would average less than 1 acre per person, while German families have just about 2.2 acres, highlighting the scarcity of land in densely populated industrial nations. These figures underscore how geography and population density shape each country’s underlying natural wealth and living space.

Sovereign wealth today is expanding beyond its traditional boundaries, blending age-old natural assets with rapidly emerging technological ones.

Nations have long built wealth on the foundations of land, rivers, forests, fisheries, oil, gas, minerals, agriculture, airspace, and their continental shelves—resources that still generate immense value through energy, trade, and food production.

Yet in the modern era, entirely new domains of sovereignty have emerged. Governments now manage and monetize digital and atmospheric assets such as radio-frequency spectrum for 5G and 6G, orbital and satellite rights, carbon credits, expanded Oil and Gas with offshore rigs etc., renewable energy zones, and vast stores of national data.

The electromagnetic spectrum, cyber infrastructure, drone and low-orbit airspace, undersea internet cables, and even AI and algorithmic systems have become extensions of state wealth.

Together, these vast layers of sovereignty, old and new, show how nations are transforming from stewards of physical territory into custodians of energy, data, and digital space, redefining the very concept of national prosperity in the 21st century.

By embracing smart fiscal stewardship, innovative tools like blockchain tokenization, and a more rational monetary policy, the U.S. could transform its balance sheet from a source of fear into a foundation of confidence and power.

America’s assets — physical, intellectual, and digital — are compounding faster than its debt. The only question that remains is whether our leaders will manage that abundance wisely.

With more than $300 trillion in national assets growing at 7-10% annually, and Citizens holding another $170-200 trillion in assets also appreciating, the United States has more wealth than it ever imagined.

Further, because of new technology, new wealth is created from thin air every day and the governments have the ability to tax and regulate income, assets, trade, and immigration at every level.

The good news is that the $37+ trillion in national debt should not grow at more than 6% per year. To be clear, I call this wealth analysis the “Mentzhausen Theory” of collateralized wealth per capita which most nations have failed to observe. The theory suggests that all assets should be used to back up the currency and the debt while funding the benefits for Citizens and putting citizens first.

“When the world measures America by its liabilities, it forgets our greatest strength — our assets, our innovation, and our ability to reinvent finance itself.”

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Commissioner George Mentz JD MBA CILS CWM® holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence (JD), and an MBA from ABA and AACSB Accredited programs. Mentz is the first in the USA to rank as a Top 50 Influencer & Thought Leader in: Management, PM, HR, FinTech, EdTech, Wealth Management, and B2B according to Onalytica.com and Thinkers360.com. George Mentz JD MBA CILS is a CWM Chartered Wealth Manager ®, global speaker - educator, tax-economist, international lawyer and CEO of the GAFM Global Academy of Finance & Management ®. The GAFM is a EU accredited graduate body that trains and certifies professionals in 150+ nations under standards of the: US Dept of Education, ACBSP, ISO 21001, ISO 991, ISO 29993, QAHE, ECLBS, and ISO 29990 standards. Mentz is also an award-winning author and award winning graduate law professor of wealth management of one of the top 25 ranked law schools in the USA and is founder of the ChE Chartered Economist ® certification & education programs. George Mentz has served as a White House Commissioner, and has served the Civil Service Commission for Police and Fire and the Airport Commission (Home of Space Force). Comm'r Mentz is one of the few lawyers who has ever earned Wall Street Firm licenses of Series 7,63, and 65 , served as a Judge for the ABA, has led civil litigation cases in fraud and defamation, as well as testified as an expert in FINRA/NASD financial arbitration.
 

^[i] Financial Report of the United States Government - Financial Statements of the United States Government for the Fiscal Years Ended September 30, 2024, and 2023

^[ii] U.S. government announces size, limits of extended continental shelf | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

^[iii] America grew 386,000 square miles bigger!

^[iv] The $124 Trillion Global Stock Market, Sorted by Region

^[v] How much money does the US federal government collect? | USAFacts

^[vi] Financial Accounts of the United States - Z.1

^[vii] Financial Report of the United States Government - Executive Summary - Where We Are Now

^[viii] The Economics and Innovation of Immigration | Newsmax.com

^[ix] Unsustainable US Programs Explain Credit Downgrade Cost of a New Immigrant | Newsmax.com

^[x] New Estimates of Value of Land of the United States | U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)

^[xi] Financial Accounts of the United States - Z.1

^[xii] Nominal Gross Domestic Product for United States (NGDPXDCUSA) | FRED | St. Louis Fed