The US Daily Deficit for 1/18/2013 was $0.3B. Usually, I do the month to date through the current day, but since we know that 1/19-1/21 were zero, I’m just going to say the January deficit through 21 days was $40B vs $43B in 2012…so virtually the same. Revenue is flat, outlays are flat..deficit is flat. There are 8 business days left…still plenty of time for 2013 to make a run, but through 3 weeks, there is no evidence of increased revenues due to the expiration of the payroll tax cut and the tak hike on high earners. I would expect some delay…especially on the income tax hike…but honestly, those hikes were so tiny, perhaps $15B per month…they could easily get lost in the noise, especially in what promises to be a chaotic 1Q.
