Going Broke: Treasury Down to $58.6B in Cash, $130.5B Borrowing Authority


Then House Minority Leader John Boehner (R.-Ohio) and President Barack Obama on Jan. 29, 2010. (Associated Press photo)

CNSNews.com
Wednesday, March 30, 2011

(CNSNews.com) - Imagine that you had an average monthly income of about $170 balanced against average monthly expenses of about $940--and that you were more than $14,000 in debt.
Then imagine that as of today, you had only $58.60 in cash left in your bank account and $130.50 left on your line of credit.

Now multiply these numbers by 1 billion and you will have the up-to-date financial situation of the U.S. government.

According to the Daily Treasury Statement released by the U.S. Treasury Department today at 4:00 p.m., the Treasury had $58.6 billion in cash in its accounts as of the close of business on Tuesday. That was down from $190.6 billion at the beginning of March and $309.8 billion at the beginning of this fiscal year on Oct. 1, 2010.

In the first five months of this fiscal year (Oct.-Feb.), the federal government averaged $169.6 billion per month in revenue. (During these months, the Treasury brought in a cumulative total of $845.3 billion—including all moneys from individual income taxes, corporate income taxes, payroll taxes, excise taxes, unemployment insurance taxes, estate taxes and other taxes.)

In the same five months that it was averaging this $169.6 billion in revenue, the federal government was averaging $943.4 billion in monthly spending. (During those months, the Treasury actually spent $4.717 trillion—including, for example, $2.492 trillion to pay off the holders of Treasury securities that had matured, $245.7 billion in Social Security benefits, $212.8 billion in Medicare benefits, $158.4 billion to pay defense contractors, $113.0 billion for Medicaid benefits, $111.6 billion for Department of Education programs, $94.3 billion in interest on debt, $73.4 billion in salaries for federal workers, and $26.7 billion in insurance benefits for federal workers.)
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