The crap reported by the government and MSM is mind boggling to behold. The sheep will just take this headline in as the truth. It’s nothing but lies, misinformation and bullshit government accounting. Please proceed to this link:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np
Enter December 31, 2012 and January 31, 2013 into the form and you get these results:
National Debt on 12/31/12 – $16,432,730,050,569.12
National Debt on 1/31/13 – 16,433,791,850,294.04
The government reports a $3 billion surplus, but the National Debt goes up by $1.06 billion. Close enough for government work. Interest does not get paid on the reported deficits. It gets paid on the actual debt. Trust no one. Especially your government.
U.S. posts $3 billion budget surplus for January
(Reuters) – The budget posted a surprise surplus in January for the first time in five years, as the Treasury likely benefited from a windfall when payroll tax cuts expired.
The budget registered a $3 billion surplus, the first time there had been a surplus in January since 2008, Treasury Department data showed on Tuesday. Economists had been looking for a $2 billion gap. The surplus compared with a $27 billion deficit in January 2012.
It appeared the Treasury got a boost from the expiration of a payroll tax reduction on January 1 following the last-minute “fiscal cliff” deal. In its estimate last week, the Congressional Budget Office said the Treasury got an extra $9 billion in taxes from the expiry.
The January surplus means the government’s cumulative deficit for the fiscal year, which starts in October, is $290 billion, 17 percent lower than the comparable first four months of fiscal 2012.
During fiscal 2012 which ended September 30, the budget deficit totaled $1.089 trillion.
Growth in receipts outpaced rising spending, narrowing the deficit. Receipts grew to $272 billion from $234 billion in the same month last year while outlays rose to $269 billion in January of this year from $262 billion in January 2012. So far in the first four months of fiscal 2013, receipts are $98 billion higher compared to the same period a year ago.
The extra fiscal space should leave the Treasury with plenty of room to stave off default after a debt-limit extension expires on May 19.
Congress on January 31 passed a measure that allows Treasury to borrow sufficiently to meet federal obligations until May 19, at which time another increase in the federal debt limit will be needed.
But even if no increase is granted, Treasury will be able to stave off a final day of reckoning until late July or early August by redeploying emergency cash management measures which allow it to claw back about $220 billion worth of borrowing capacity.
card802 says:
I don’t understand. All the bad news, all the facts, the truth is right there, and yet the president is polling well, the market keeps going up, and the sheep are content.
Why? It’s like we live in stupid land or something.
TARP: The bailout success story that wasn’t.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/losses-mounting-in-bank-bailouts-2013-02-12?dist=afterbell
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12th February 2013 at 4:29 pm
Administrator says:
Interesting that the National debt has skyrocketed by $56 BILLION in the 1st 11 days of February. I wonder how that happened?
No creative government accounting happening in January with the fiscal cliff bullshit.
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12th February 2013 at 4:35 pm
flash says:
Take a drive around LA in a blue Nissan Titan with an AR15 hanging out the window whilst disguised as a huge black man.
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12th February 2013 at 4:35 pm
Administrator says:
US Posts Two Month Combined Surplus As Debt Rises By $137 Billion
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/12/2013 14:39 -0500
Moments ago, and a few hours ahead of the president’s State of the Union speech, the FMS announced (with a 20 minutes early leak), that in January the deficit of the US government was in fact a surplus of some $2.883 billion, better than the expected $2 billion deficit. This was the first January surplus since 2008, and was an improvement on the already impressive $1.191 billion deficit from December, which in turn brings the total fiscal year to date deficit to $290 billion. On the surface this would be great news as it indicates that tax hikes are having an impact on the US budget surplus, but of course, a quick glance below the surface reminds us that January was the month during which the Treasury was forced to raid the various government retirement funds to fund operations, and otherwise operate under the debt ceiling, which was only hiked in the last days of the month. And another glance indicates something fishier: while December and January combined resulted in a surplus of some $1.7 billion on the book, a quick glance at the total US debt over the period, shows an increase of some $137 billion in the same time period (or at least through February 4, when the accurate debt picture was once again revealed). In other words, while the US government was arguably generating funds from operations over the past two months and thus did not need a single penny in outside funding, debt soared.
We are confident that Obama will be delighted to take credit for the former in a few hours, although we are not holding our breath on him explaining the latter, not explaining where all this debt went. Who knows: maybe JPM merely lent out their VaR calculating spreadsheet to the US treasury. It is not as if either of those two entities would lie to anyone.
Finally, since the start of tax refund issuance by the IRS had been delayed by several weeks, don’t expect the surplus picture to repeat itself any time soon. Maybe, ever.
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12th February 2013 at 4:36 pm
todd says:
card – “Why? It’s like we live in stupid land or something.”
I’m laughing at the seeming futility of it all summed up in this simple statement.
I don’t consider myself one of the brightest people on earth – like obama – but I am awake and find myself just surrounded day in and day out by droned out stupid sheeple that haven’t a fucking clue. You mention something about the price of gold or inflation or even something simple like fractional reserve lending and fiat in the same sentence…eyes glaze over and babble something about the new NFL jerseys…WTF…why bother?
It’s CandyLand all over again from Kindergarten. This description of CandyLand from wiki…
“Candy Land (also Candyland) is a simple racing board game. The game requires no reading and minimal counting skills, making it suitable for young children.
Due to the design of the game, there is no strategy involved—players are never required to make choices, just follow directions. A “winner” is predetermined only by the shuffle of the cards.”
…well fuck me we are just living in a “grown-up” version called stupid land. sad thing is i always played chess, backgammon and risk; i should have learned how to cheat at candyland instead. oops bad strategy.
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12th February 2013 at 8:11 pm
Makati1 says:
Yep, you do live in fantasy land where ignorance is bliss and intelligence is not worth a Charmin dollar. I once worked on a sheep ranch and had to feed the stupid things twice a day. No wonder wolves love them. They wouldn’t even run away. And after the wolves drag off the victim, the rest of the flock goes back to grazing like nothing happened. Sheeple is the perfect name for Americans.
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12th February 2013 at 11:15 pm
Stan says:
Thanks be to our Leader for the surplus!
Hope and change!
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12th February 2013 at 4:46 am
Bostonbob says:
Admin,
You should really go work fot the GAO. Accounting would be so much easier without all that messy math stuff.
Bob.
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12th February 2013 at 10:59 am