US Debt "frozen"

[pmbug]

According to the Daily Treasury Statement for July 12, which the U.S. Treasury released this afternoon, the federal debt that is currently subject to a legal limit of $16,699,421,095,673.60 has stood at exactly $16,699,396,000,000.00 for 56 straight days.

That means that for 56 straight days the federal debt has remained approximately $25 million below the legal limit.

Even though the portion of the federal debt that is subject to a legal limit has not changed in almost two months, the Treasury has continued to sell bills, notes and bonds at a value that exceeds the value of the bills, notes and bonds it has been redeeming.
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More: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/treasury-debt-has-been-exactly-1669939600000000-56-days

 

[DCFusor]

When things get really bad, you have to ...

 

[dontdeBasemebro]

Well that's a nice little trick.

Think Visa would let me get away with it?

 

[swissaustrian]

Extraodinary measures like borrowing from the SS trust fund keep the Treasury liquid for a few months once the debt ceiling (target) has been reached. It has happened before and it explains the "freeze".

In a nod to how common debt-limit battles have become in recent years, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told Congress Friday he was prepared to deploy the “standard set of extraordinary measures.”

On Friday, the Treasury stopped issuing State and Local Government Series securities (SLGS). State and local governments buy the securities as they work to refund municipal bond deals. Issuing those securities takes up space under the debt limit.

The Treasury also has the power to halt new investments in federal employee retirement funds, which would be reimbursed once the limit is hiked. It also can stop reinvesting in its Exchange Stabilization Fund used to buy and sell foreign currencies. All these moves can free up billions of dollars the government can use to meet critical bills, and give Washington time to strike a debt-limit compromise.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-mon...dinary-measures-become-standard#ixzz2ZPVCebQ6
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[Aubuy]

I hate to be cynical but the same people who borrow the money get to report the numbers.

 

[mmerlinn]

I hate to be cynical but the same people who borrow the money get to report the numbers.

Yup, it is the fox-guarding-the-henhouse syndrome.