Do you understand how easy it would be to judge how a government performed by comparing two of these? And ask all the right questions, exactly as MS investors do with the "developers, developers, developers" CEO?
Here is a summary position and you can find the rest on the site http://www.treasury.govt.nz/government/longterm/fiscalpositi...
All governments should do this....
I seem to remember it was partly prompted by a new government wanting to prove they were fiscally responsible, but also I think there has always been quite an awareness as there is a huge earthquake reconstruction fund (now entirely in external assets) in case of disaster, which would prompt some thinking about assets and liabilities.
Actually, it might come as a surprise but Greece seems to have a lot of public assets which would give it a much better clear position than many other countries in Europe if they were to be compared.
However of course, it is no secret nowadays that even with a great clear position, if cash flow is not positive you may easily go under.