Les Jones

U.S. issued $7 trillion in debt for 2009 fiscal year

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 | Economics | Permalink | 2 Comments |

The federal fiscal year ends September 30. It’s now estimated the U.S. issued $7 trillion in debt in 2009.

The U.S. finances its debt by selling U.S. Treasuries, which are interest-bearing securities similar to bonds. U.S. Treasuries are available in 1 year notes, 2 year notes, and other terms, all the way up to 30 year bonds.

About $5.3 trillion was revolving debt. Each year the government has to pay off the 1 year notes they sold 1 year ago, the 2 year notes they sold 2 years ago, and so on. That’s the revolving debt.

When the government goes deeper into debt they sell more Treasuries. This year’s new issuance included around $1.7 trillion in new debt to finance this year’s deficit spending.

Tags: deficits

Deficits as far as the eye can see

Thursday, March 26th, 2009 | Economics | Permalink | No Comments |

Via Ravnwood, who has more.

Tags: deficits

Obama, it turns out, is a spending-crazed leftist

Sunday, March 8th, 2009 | Politics | Permalink | 4 Comments |

Who knew?

National Journal - Obama’s Left Turn: Centrists fear that the president’s budget reveals his liberal leanings:

Having praised President Obama’s job performance in two recent columns, it is with regret that I now worry that he may be deepening what looks more and more like a depression and may engineer so much spending, debt, and government control of the economy as to leave most Americans permanently less prosperous and less free.

Other Obama-admiring centrists have expressed similar concerns. Like them, I would like to be proved wrong. After all, if this president fails, who will revive our economy? And when? And what kind of America will our children inherit?

But with the nation already plunging deep into probably necessary debt to rescue the crippled financial system and stimulate the economy, Obama’s proposals for many hundreds of billions in additional spending on universal health care, universal postsecondary education, a massive overhaul of the energy economy, and other liberal programs seem grandiose and unaffordable.

With little in the way of offsetting savings likely to materialize, the Obama agenda would probably generate trillion-dollar deficits with no end in sight, or send middle-class taxes soaring to record levels, or both.

All this from a man who told the nation last week that he doesn’t “believe in bigger government” and who promised tax cuts for 95 percent of Americans.

Yeah, see, the thing is that Obama lies his ass off.

Tags: deficits, obama, obamanfreude