The US Cash Surplus for Monday 5/13/2013 was $2.3B nudging the monthly deficit down a smidge to $61B.
May 2013 and May 2012 are still more or less lining up fairly well…I suspect a lot of the apparent $8B revenue increase will go away with tomorrows report. We should get some moderate inflows from excise taxes and corporate taxes over the next few days in addition to the large interest payment outlays….once all that flows through, say by next Wednesday, we should have a much better feel for where we end up.
On the debt front, total debt sits at $16.755T ($73B under the 4/30 ending balance) with 4 more business days to go before the debt limit deal expires, locking in the debt limit at wherever it stands. Cash in hand is now $95B….a little light if you ask me…at least if the goal is to make it all the way to October. On the other hand, I don’t understand the desire to push it out that far anyway…In the big scheme of things, a month or two is irrelevant, and moving debt off balance sheet for a few months via “extraordinary measures”only to bring it all back on when the next deal is reached just seems like a silly and pointless game. If it were me….I say get both parties into the ring…duke it out, and have it all wrapped up in time for summer vacation at the end of May.
I haven’t seen any additional headlines related to the $59B Fannie Mae phantom profits…that would definitely help the situation a bit…stay tuned!!
