Tag

Budget Deficit

7/31/2013 Daily US Cash Deficit

By | Daily Deficit

The US Cash Surplus for 7/31/2013 was $2.2B bringing the July 2013 deficit for the full month to $90B exceeding the July 2012 deficit of $82B by $8B.

07-31-2013 USDD

As expected, the last day of the month brought in strong revenues and strong outlays. $16B of revenues helped push yesterday’s meager 1% YOY gain all the way back up to 9%…respectable, but well under the pace set in the Jan-April period. Just for reference…YOY gains in revenue from Jan-April were about 15%…May through July, adjusting for the Fannie Mae payday loan is running at 9% YOY growth.

I’m pressed for time now, but will try to crank out a more in depth July review over the weekend. In the meantime…we get a first glance at August in just a few hours.

7/30/2013 Daily US Cash Deficit

By | Daily Deficit

The US  Cash Deficit for 7/30/2013 was $5.0B pushing the July 2013 deficit through 30 days back up to $93B with just one business day remaining.

07-30-2013 USDD

Recall…I aligned 2013 and 2012 by business days and day of week…So we are comparing 21 business days to 21 business days, but July 2013 has an extra day, so we are comparing All of July 2012 to 30 days of July. This is more or less what the month would have looked like without the extra business day….Flat revenues, and adjusted for timing, small, but noticeable reductions in outlays.

Yet…we do have an extra business day, so we can probably expect an additional $10-15B or both revenues and outlays. It still looks more likely than not revenues, even with the extra day will come in under 10%….August…which loses a business day could be downright ugly…

7/29/2013 Daily US Cash Deficit

By | Daily Deficit

The US Cash Surplus for 7/29/2013 was $8.1B on strong Monday revenues and typical outlays. With two business days left, the July 2013 deficit is sitting at $88B. Tuesday normally yields a moderate deficit, and Wednesday…well, anything goes on the last day of a month. I expect revenues to be elevated, but there will also be a $5B or so interest payment…I’m more or less expecting a wash. I believe my initial estimate for the month was $80B…later revised to $90B +/- $10B (somebody correct me if I’m lying here…no time to go back and check right now). That still sounds good to me…we’ll know for sure in 48 hours.

07-29-2013 USDD

Remember….I’ve attempted to synchronize the months based on business days…so we are actually comparing through Monday the 30th of last year. I think this gives us the most useful YOY comparison… we’ll catch the extra day this Wednesday…should be good for an extra $8B or so revenue…and cost:(

7/26/2013 Daily US Cash Deficit

By | Daily Deficit
The US Daily Cash Surplus for 7/26/2013 was $0.8B dropping the June deficit through 26 days to $96B with 3 business days left. It seems likely that the deficit will fall a bit further on strong Monday and Wednesday revenues and no large payments looming…. I would normally guess $5B, but it could be a bit more depending on whether or not revenues from the state come through for unemployment. Last July, we saw over $8B from the state in this revenue category…this July, we have only seen $1.3B so far. $7B seems like a pretty steep drop, though admittedly, this series is a bit difficult to predict. So…I would not be shocked if we got a $5B or so bump in addition to the $5B I would have expected. If we don’t….well that would be interesting I suppose.

07-26-2013 USDD

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 🙂