Gross US Debt Surges By $240 Billion Overnight, US Debt To GDP Hits Post World War II High 97.2%, Official Debt Ceiling Increase Only $400 Billion
Two things happened when the Senate voted in the "Bipartisan" plan into law yesterday: i) deferred debt on the Treasury's balance sheet finally caught up with reality, and ii) as a result of i) America's Debt/GDP just hit a post World War 2 High of 97.2%. Becasue as the Daily Treasury Statement as of last night indicates, total US marketable debt surged by $124.6 billion, while debt in intragovernmental holdings (Social Security, Government Retirement Accounts, etc), soared by $113.6 billion, for a combined one day change of $238.2 billion, the single biggest one day increase of US debt in history. Obviously this is a result of massive underfunding and disinvestment in the various government retirement accounts as well as due to deferred debt which was to be booked since the debt was breached on May 16. However, how marketable debt could increase by a whopping $125 billion without any actual auction settlement is slightly confusing. Just as confusing is that according to the endnote in the debt subject to limit calculation, the new ceiling is not the $900 billion increase as requested, but only $400 billion more than the $14.294 billion previous, or at $14.694 billion. We hope this is some Treasury type or misunderstanding as this new ceiling will be breached in a month. And the last thing we need is this whole debt ceiling drama back again in September. One thing there is no confusion about, however, is that based on the latest gross debt number of $14.581 trillion, and the just reported Q2 GDP of $15.003 billion, total US debt to GDP is now a post World War II high of 97.2% (and that excludes the GSE off balance sheet debt).
“Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses. It is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
H.L. Mencken
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
H. L. Mencken
Treasury Adds Another $20 Billion In Debt Overnight, Just $160 Billion Below Revised Ceiling
Ok, someone please explain this one to us because we must be a little slow. Wasn't the whole thing with the debt ceiling hike such that no more Congressional melodramas would have to be inflicted upon the population until after Obama [won|lost] the 2012 elections? Because according to the one again exponentially increasing debt balance of the US Treasury (there is another $51 billion in debt/cash coming in next week), the total US treasury balance (subject to the ceiling) is $14.54 trillion (and $14.58 trillion for total), an increase of $20 billion overnight, the Treasury will hit its latest ceiling no later than the end of September. As the latest DTS statement indicates, the debt ceiling now is $14.694 trillion: a number which Tim Geithner will hit in about a month. So if this is due to a planned expansion as part of the two step plan, we would like to understand how it works, because the $400 billion additional ceiling is barely sufficient to cover the catch up in funding for the SSN and the various governmental trust funds. And the far bigger concern is that tax receipts are about to plunge courtesy of the imminent double dip. So we wonder just based on what assumptions does the Treasury believe that its issuance needs will be met by this paltry debt ceiling.
So do we get new debt drama shortly?
“Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses. It is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
H.L. Mencken
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
H. L. Mencken
Yes- I think we will be getting more drama than all the Broadway shows put together. It will start on the political stage in Washington DC and spread throughout the country in many forms: violence, theft, murder, mayhem, hunger. In less than 9 months from today, we will see the birthing of one ugly drama queen of a situation.
SPECTRISM time countdown2025
"A man is to be held accountable for the thoughts he chooses to entertain." --Richard Alan Miller
"If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable-what then?" --George Orwell
"It's not a matter of what is true (reality) that counts but a matter of what is perceived to be true (reality)." --Henry Kissinger
I am looking at some astronomical events which, I think, could herald the end of the world by the fall season of 2015. If we are within 3.5 years of that time, we are about to see things get real bad real fast. We should begin to see an increase in the signs already started, if that is the case, before May 2012. Maybe I am being too optimistic and it will be the fall of 2014, in which case next week will be fuglier than this week.
SPECTRISM time countdown2025
In the words of Ed Griffin, "not one man in a million" will be able to figure this out. The majority of Americans are completely ignorant when it comes to fiscal and monetary matters. To them, inflation is just one of those normal parts of life, just one of those uncomfortable elements of life we don't know what causes it but we all have to deal with it.Eric Cantor said he was happy that there were no new taxes. How does he arrive at that? Inflation is the insidious tax that steals from savers.
"Liberty is so creative, and the government is so stupid, that I’m very optimistic about the future"
- Lew Rockwell