Treasury Needs $361B More

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department said Monday it will need to borrow $361 billion in the current April-June quarter, a record amount for that period.

It's the third straight quarter the government's borrowing needs have set records for those periods.

Treasury also estimated it will need to borrow $515 billion in the July-September quarter, down slightly from the $530 billion borrowed during the year-ago period. The all-time high of $569 billion was set in the October-December period.

The huge borrowing needs reflect the soaring costs of the $700 billion financial rescue program and the recession, which is nearing a record as the longest in the post World War II period.

The slump has cut sharply into tax revenue and boosted government spending for benefit programs such as unemployment insurance and food stamps.

The administration is projecting the federal deficit for the entire budget year ending Sept. 30, will total a record $1.75 trillion. A deficit at that level would nearly quadruple the previous record of $454.8 billion set last year.

To cover the government's heavy borrowing needs, Congress in February boosted the limit for the national debt to $12.1 trillion as part of the legislation that enacted President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus program. The national debt now stands at $11.1 trillion.

The government released its estimate of borrowing needs for the quarter before a news conference Wednesday when officials are scheduled provide exact details of how much debt the government plans to sell next week and in what maturity levels as part of Treasury's regular quarterly debt auctions.

The $361 billion estimate for borrowing this quarter compared with borrowing needs of just $13 billion in the year-ago period. Normally the government's borrowing needs shrink sharply in the April-June quarter because of all the tax revenue being collected.

The government announced in February that it was bringing back the seven-year note and doubling the number of 30-year bond auctions it would hold each year to help finance the surging borrowing needs.

Comments

[RageCage]

All these figures and budgets are all just turning into meaningless numbers that I can't even begin to comprehend. You all want to know what the tea parties were about? Well here it is: our government sucks at their jobs. And it's not just Obama that sucks; this has been going on for a long while. The solution to this mess is in the writings of our Founders. It's going back to the basics of what our government was set up to be and do. It's classical liberalism, not modern liberalism.

[vagabondvet]

That $1.75 trillion deficit for the year assumes that the economy will be far better than it actually is. The commercial real estate crisis hasn't even started. I will not be surprised to see a deficit over $2 trillion or even $2.5 trillion this year.

[screened]

now, i know why we have a standing army unit in either Northern Indiana, or somewhere in
Georgia !!!

[themodernleader]

The most important repertoire of leadership is to decide on a foundation of strong values such as integrity, honor, openness, humility, courage and so on. The next most important repertoire, I believe, is finding and appointing and receiving advice from the most qualified,competent subordinates. Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, the two Roosevelts, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, faithfully obeyed that leadership requirement which made their administrations memorable .
President Obama's failure to select wise, patriotic Americans to lead us out of this terrible depression has resulted in the selection and retention of the same despicable players that have brought this country to its present calumny.
Only incompetent and biased officers would devise a policy that risked the American currency and economy for the sake of a few insipid swindlers. Yet, that is just what has happened. A 1.75 trillion dollar deficit for one year, ending September 30, 2009, is an unmitigated act of outrageous irresponsibility, incompetence and arrogance. And this deficit does not include the trillions illegally squandered by that unhinged Fed Chairman Bernacke. President Obama, this deficit is at least one half your doing and responsibility. That's the result of selecting the least rather than the most qualified Americans to lead the Treasury and Federal Reserve. It may not be too late to clean house and apppoint new qualified personnel. But the hour is late.

[screened]

totally agree --
the majority of the Amorican public has been swindled !!!!
This has to stand out as one of the greatest of all time !!!!
--
i have been looking for an explanation for obama's choice of administrative personnel -
geithner, gates, summers --
this Holder guy seems like the only possibly decent selection for assistants ---
--
i wonder if obama wasn't effected by power akin to the guards in the "stanford prison experiment" --
or maybe he was just lying
or maybe information was revealed to him upon his inauguration into office which effected his worldview?
--
anyone have any ideas ??

[leftLibertarian]

Who will bail out Timmy?

[skene]

Let's put 10 billion in public programs...medicare etc., before we throw more down the rathole.

[screened]

no doubt --
how about hiring ex gm employees to build/design high speed rail or some kind of
sensible public transpo. system ??
oh, i forgot, we'll probably need them for the afghanistan debacle !!!

[dshep]

the thing about borrowing, you have to pay it back. sorry kids, it's all yours.

[MadAppraiser]

The movie “Boiler Room” comes to mind when I think of the American economic nightmare!