Category

Debt Limit

US Daily Cash Deficit 1/24/2014

By | Daily Deficit, Debt Limit

The US Daily Cash Deficit for Friday 1/24/2014 was $0.6B bringing the January 2014 cash surplus to $9B with one week to go.

2014-01-24 USDD

Revenue takes a small $1B step back…outlays are flat. No news really…but never fear….we are just a few weeks away from another debt limit showdown.

While we are currently without a debt limit, wherever the debt lands at 2/7 will become the new debt limit….at which point Treasury will enact “extraordinary measures (EM)”….essentially pretending some of the debt does not exist by hiding the IOU post it’s in the basement. However….Right about 2/8…tax refund requests are going to start flooding in….leading to a ~$200B or so February deficit….and limiting the longevity of EM to just a few weeks according to Treasury….compared to about 5 months last time around.

I can’t see this getting drawn out that long…but just in case…I think I’ll be filing my taxes extra early this year.

Debt Limit Day After…. Debt Outstanding Increases $328B

By | Commentary, Debt Limit

So the numbers are in… and on the first day after the debt limit was removed, the debt outstanding increased by $328B…..which is the amount Treasury has been hiding for the last 5 months with “Extrordinary Measures”.

Here’s a snapshot of the DTS:

10-18-2013 Debt Spike

This really doesn’t count as a surprise….back in 8/2011 the day after yielded a $238B increase. I had guessed it would be similar…at around $250B, but this tops even the high end of what I would have expected….I guess Lew’s magic hat is a bit deeper than I expected. Well…if nothing else, if we ever get another debt limit, we know that we need to add $300B to get to the real number.


October 2013 Deficit Preview

By | Commentary, Debt Limit

While I suppose it’s all relative, October is kind of a dull month in regards to the deficit. It’s not a quarter, so no revenue surges to predict or Fannie/Freddie payday loans to analyze. We do have the backdrop of the government shutdown and the impending debt limit, but the shutdown probably won’t have a material affect on outlays…maybe a few Billion? The Debt Limit could get interesting, but I have to think it will be resolved by month end, and any federal worker back pay will have been paid in full.

I could be wrong about all of this, in which case so will be my forecast, but honestly, it’s going to be wrong anyway, so why add additional uncertainty? So, I’ll stick with the same ol’ playbook, guessing we see ~10% YOY revenue gains and moderate reductions in cost. For the record, let’s just say $225B of net cash revenues and $316B of outlays, good for a $91B deficit…which would be a material improvement over last year’s $123B October deficit.

Cash in hand as of 9/30 was $88B, so we would normally think there was enough cash on hand to get us to the end of the month, but I recall reading a CBO publication mentioning some intercompany cash true ups that happen in October that may increase intercompany debt by about $80B…which would require a paydown of $80B of external debt to stay under the limit. That would probably be offset by some additional “Extraordinary Measures”…according to the same publication, there were about $90B or so left in that tank. So…You have to believe that there is a good chance we make it to the end of the month, but getting past the heavy outflows of early November might be a challenge. Of course…a higher deficit over the month would pull forward the “default date”, while a lower deficit would push it out a few days. In the long run, it really doesn’t matter. I haven’t put out a FY 2014 forecast yet, but it will probably be in the $700-800B range regardless of whether we run out of cash on 10/17  or 11/3.

 

Reply to “Has the U.S. Treasury Already Exceeded the Debt Limit?”

By | Commentary, Debt Limit
Perhaps I’m a bit jealous here….that this guy got a Drudge link and I didn’t…but I give him a swing and a miss for not paying attention. The headline refers to the Daily Treasury Statement table III, which I happen to know something about. The author notes correctly how the debt outstanding, at $16.738T is now $39B over the 16.699T official limit. Busted…right!! Well…not really. You see, there is a small subset(about $30-40B) of the debt that is exempt from the debt limit…this is not new or newsworthy, it has always been this way…not just for the past 68 days….always.
Most of this exempt debt is related to the unamortized discount…currently at $32B. So…you are probably wondering….”what the heck is the unamortized discount?” Let’s take a 3 month T-Bill for example. Rather than issuing at say $100, then paying interest plus face value three months later, they are issued at a discount, say $99, then paid in full when due. That 1$ is the discount. So…while I now have an additional $100 face value of debt on the books, your accountant will say that you technically only have $99 of debt, and will incur $1 of interest over the next 3 months. That difference…currently $32B, plus a handful of other items are specifically excluded from the debt limit calculation. Why??… I don’t know…I suppose it’s in some regulation or law somewhere, but that’s just how it is, and has always been. Pointing that out now well…it really isn’t news to anyone who has been paying attention.
Now, that’s not to say there are not shady things going on….there certainly are….Mr. DeLegge just looking under the wrong stone. The real travesty is the use of “extraordinary measures” to essentially hide debt off of the balance sheet…probably another $100B or so over the next month. Then, when the debt limit is raised, and we all know it will be…this debt will magically, and nearly instantly be parked back on the balance sheet. Ta Da!! That magic trick deserves further scrutiny….the unamortized discount….nah…that’s just good accounting (for a change). So the answer is…No…they haven’t…yet…but they fully intend to….just not as obviously as you think.
So…if you want a real debt limit primer, read Debt Limit Recap Summer 2013 written by your truly without all of the glamour associated with a Drudge Link, but guaranteed to have at least twice as much credibility 🙂

Treasury Stockpiling Cash in Preparation for Debt Limit Showdown Round X??

By | Debt Limit

I touched on this a bit back in January when the “No Budget No Pay” act was passed…effectively lifting the debt limit to infinity until 5/19/2013. Though I haven’t read the fine print (and have no plans too)…there seems to be a glaring loophole…What is stopping Obama from issuing enough debt 5/18 to make it through the rest of his term…say $4T or so.

The accounting is simple….debit cash $4T…credit liabilities $4T. Rather than hitting 5/19 with a $16.9T debt limit…it would be$20.9T…problem solved right? Well, honestly, I never expected them to be that brazen, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there isn’t some fine print in the law prohibiting such malarkey. However….surely there must be some wiggle room.

So I wasn’t so surprised when I glanced at the 4/30 DTS and saw that despite having a cash balance of $152B as of 4/29, and running a $117B Surplus throughout the month of April (the highest in 72 months)…Treasury issued an additional $60B of public debt on 4/30, bringing cash in hand to nearly $214B….the highest since February 2011.

As I discussed in the run up to the last debt limit battle…it’s not when you hit the debt limit that matters…it’s when you run out of cash. Obviously…the more cash in the bank come 5/19, the longer we will make it before hitting that point.

Now the timing of the January debt fight was precocious for all involved given its proximity to the tax refund season…tax refunds literally would not have gone out in February…along with a lot of other things…. revolution would have quickly ensued. No…if you are going to have a prolonged debt fight…summer is by far the best time to do it. While July and August are likely to post substantial deficits, June and September might very well post surpluses, so a $200B+ cash stash aided by “extraordinary measures” could very well get you into October before the coffers start to run dry.

Gentlemen…the game is afoot!! Stock up on popcorn.